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CELSIOa LITERATURE SERIES 



F. A. OWEN PUBUSiimO COMPANY, DANSVIiLE, M. Y. 



















Robert Louis Stevenson 






THE EXCELSIOR LITERATURE SERIES 


Treasure Island 


Br 

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 


With Introduction and Notes 

Br 

FLORENCE R. SIGNOR 

\ 



F. A. OWEN PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

DANSVILLE, N. Y. 



Copyright, 1921 

F, A. OWEN PUBLISHING CO. 
Treasure Island 



©C!.A6o9327 


m 27 ’22 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION 7 

PART I. THE OLD BUCCANEER 

I. The Old Sea-Dog at the Admiral Benbow 13 

II. Black Dog Appears and Disappears 19 

III. The Black Spot 26 

IV. The Sea Chest 32 

V. The Last of the Blind Man 38 

VI. The Captain’s Papers 43 

PART II. THE SEA COOK 

VII. I Go TO Bristol 50 

VIII. At the Sign of the Spy Glass 55 

IX. Powder and Arms 60 

X. The Voyage 67 

XI. What I Heard in the Apple Barrel 72 

XIL Council of War 78 

PART III. MY SHORE ADVENTURE 

XIII. How I Began My Shore Adventure 85 

XIV. The First Blow 90 

XV. The Man o'f the Island 96 

PART IV. THE STOCKADE 

XVI. Narrative Continued by the Doctor — 

How THE Ship Was Abandoned 103 

XVII. Narrative Continued by the Doctor — 

The Jolly-boat’s Last Trip 109 

XVIli. Narrative Continued by the Doctor — 

End of the First Day’s Fighting 113 

XIX. Narrative Resumed by Jim Hawkins — 

The Garrison at the Stockade 118 

XX. Silver’s Embassy 124 

XXL The Attack 130 


6 CONTENTS 

PART V. MY SEA ADVENTURE 

XXII. How I Began My Sea Adventure 138 

XXIII. The Ebb-Tide Runs 144 

XXIV. The Cruise op^the Coracle 149 

XXV. I Strike the Jolly Roger 154 

XXVI. Israel Hands 160 

XXVII. “Pieces of Eight” 168 

PART VI. CAPTAIN SILVER 

XXVIII. In the Enemy’s Camp 175 

XXIX. The Black Spot Again 183 

XXX. On Parole 189 

XXXI. The Treasure Hunt — Flint’s Pointer.. 196 
XXXII. The Treasure Hunt — The Voice Among 

THE Trees 203 

XXXIII. The Fall op a Chieftain 209 

XXXIV. And Last 215 

EXPLANATORY NOTES 221 

QUESTIONS 227 

SUGGESTED COMPOSITION SUBJECTS 229 

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF STEVENSON’S 

WORKS 230 


INTRODUCTION 

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 

Robert Louis Stevenson was born at Edinburgh, No- 
vember 13, 1850. His father, Thomas Stevenson, was a 
noted builder of lighthouses as well as a recognized au- 
thority on engineering. He was a somewhat whimsical, 
imaginative man of a stern, melancholy disposition, with 
a gift for expressing himself in apt and droll language. 
From him Louis inherited a love of adventure and of the 
out of doors, and also the romantic and artistic elements 
that led him away from engineering and caused him to 
adopt literature as his profession. His mother was de- 
scended from a family of Scotch divines. She was a wom- 
an of great vivacity and possessed an optimistic, cheerful 
nature that made light of discomfort. These qualities had 
their counterpart in her son, enabling him to maintain his 
w'ell-known “cheerful courage.” 

During his childhood he was so delicate that many win- 
ters he never went outdoors. In the summer months he 
was fairly well and lived at various summer resorts or at 
the home of his grandfather at Colington Manse, where 
the happiest hours of his childhood were spent. Because of 
his confinement to the house he learned to invent and play 
in his mind, and was very imaginative. In A Child’s 
Garden of Verses we may read how he lived in this “pure- 
ly visionary state.” He was taught until he was nine 
years of age by his mother and his devoted nurse, Alison 
Cunningham, who was an unusually important factor in 
his life. He enjoyed reading and began early to take 
pleasure in attempts at composition of his own. At the 
age of six he dictated to his mother a “History of Moses” 


8 


INTRODUCTION 


for which he received a prize from his uncle. “From that 
time forward,” says his mother, “it was the desire of his 
heart to be an author.” 

His formal schooling began in 1859. He attended three 
different schools in Edinburgh and studied under tutors 
in different places to which he traveled for his own or his 
parents’ health. One of his teachers says: “He was the 
most delightful boy I ever knew; full of fun, full of tender 
feeling; ready for his lessons, ready for a story, ready 
for fun.” 

When he was seventeen years old, he was entered at Ed- 
inburgh University, where his father hoped he would 
fit himself to become a civil engineer. For the next three 
and a half years he tried dutifully to prepare himself for 
the family profession, pursuing a regular course of scien- 
tific studies and seeing something of the practical work of 
engineering. His interest in the profession, however, was 
romantic and literary rather than scientific and practical. 
The outdoor part of an engineer’s life attracted him, but 
for desk and routine work he had an unconquerable aver- 
sion. Literature was really his chosen field, and finally, 
in 1871, he mustered up courage to tell his father that he 
preferred it to engineering. Reluctantly his father con- 
sented to Louis’ giving up engineering, but stipulated that 
he should read for the bar in order to have a profession 
to fall back upon. Accordingly, Louis took up the study 
of law, which he pursued between 1871-1873. In addition 
to this study, however, he devoted much time to literature, 
and to learning to write. 

In 1873 he suffered an attack of acute nerve exhaustion, 
with a threatening of tuberculosis. His physician order- 
ing him to leave Edinburgh and to spend the winter in a 
more soothing climate, he went to Mentone. In the spring 
of the next year he returned to Edinburgh where he re- 
sumed the study of law. In 1875 he was admitted to the 
bar, but he never made any serious attempt to practice. 
His health, though improved, was not good in Scotland, 
and he was never again to remain there over three months 
at a time. The years 1876-1879 he spent between 


INTRODUCTION 


9 


France, London, and Edinburgh. During this time he 
was a frequent contributor to magazines. In 1876 he and 
Sir Walter Simpson went on a canoe trip down the Oise 
River in France. The next year the first of his stories 
ever printed, A Lodging for the Night, was accepted; and 
in May 1878 appeared his first book, An Inland Voyage, 
a record of his canoe trip. To this same year, also, be- 
longs The New Arabian Nights, a volume of fanciful 
stories. In June, 1879, these were followed by Travels 
with a Donkey, the material for which had been furnished 
by a trip through Southern France. 

While on his canoe trip down the Oise he had met at 
Grez his future wife, Mrs. Osbourne, who had come there 
from California to study art. In August, 1879, hearing 
that she was very ill in California, he determined to go 
there to visit her. Partly for the sake of economy, partly 
to gain first-hand knowledge of emigrants and emigration, 
he made the journey in an emigrant ship and train. These 
experiences he has recounted in The Amateur Emigrant 
and Across the Plains. 

The long journey overtaxed his strength, and to recover 
from the effects he camped for a time near Monterey. 
For some months he lived in poverty, estranged from his 
family. Instead of resting, he continued his literary work, 
though quite unfit to do so. 

Finally Thomas Stevenson, hearing of his son’s illness, 
cabled him to count on an allowance of 250 pounds. By 
May, 1880, he was again restored to temporary health 
and was married to Mrs. Osbourne. Immediately after 
marriage they went to a deserted mining town where 
they remained until the end of July. Their life there 
Stevenson has well described in The Silverado Squatters. 
In August they returned to Scotland, but Stevenson was 
unable to endure the rugged climate of his native country. 
His physician advised him to try the climate of the Alps; 
therefore, with his wife and stepson, he went to Davos 
Platz in Switzerland where he remained for two years. 

For the next eight years he lived at various health re- 
sorts — the Riviera, Bournemouth, and in America in the 


10 


INTRODUCTION 


Adirondacks, where he was a member of Dr. Trudeau’s 
colony at Saranac Lake. In spite of most discouraging 
handicaps he worked persistently upon his books, and it 
was during this period that he wrote many of the works 
by which he is best known: Treasure Island, Strange 
Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Kidnapped. 

In June, 1888, he chartered a yacht and for the next 
three years cruised with his family among the South Sea 
Islands. Liking the scenery, the climate, and the natives 
of Samoa, in 1891 he purchased four hundred acres two 
miles behind and six hundred feet above the level of Apia, 
the chief town on the island of Upolu. This island is the 
most important of the three principal islands composing 
the Samoan group. The house and clearing were situated 
between two streams, and it was from the most western- 
most of these streams and its four chief tributaries that 
Stevenson gave his estate the Samoan name of Vailima, 
or Five Waters. 

His relations with the natives were most friendly. He 
took an active interest in their politics and acquired great 
influence among them. In return for his kindness to them 
in prison some of the chiefs built a road to his estate, con- 
necting it with the highway across the island. This they 
called The Road of the Loving Heart. 

For three years Stevenson lived at Vailima, leading, 
for him, an unusually strenuous outdoor life; keeping 
open house for both white residents and natives on the 
island as well as for passing visitors; and writing in some 
respects his best works. The most notable of his produc- 
tions at this time were The Master of Ballantrae, David 
Balfour, and the uncompleted romances of St. Ives and 
Weir of Hermiston, the latter regarded by many critics 
as his masterpiece. 

He died from rupture of a blood vessel in the brain, 
December 3, 1894, and was buried on a hill on his estate 
overlooking the sea. 


INTRODUCTION 


It 


Stevenson himself has told the history of Treasure Is- 
land, which he called his first book — not his first book ever 
published but the first by which he gained fame. The 
story was begun in response to the request of his school- 
boy stepson, Lloyd Osbourne, to write “something inter- 
esting.” Stevenson first drew a map of an island, then 
from the names, marked at random, wrote the story. His 
father, another “schoolboy in disguise,” became much in- 
terested and urged his son on, even helping him with sug- 
gestions. He it was that made a list of the articles in 
Billy Bones’s chest, that contributed the name of Flint’s 
ship and did the handwriting of Bones and Flint on the 
map. 

Stevenson wrote a chapter each day for nineteen days 
to read aloud to his eager audience. Then his inspiration 
failed him and he could not imagine another incident un- 
til several months later, when he finished the last half of 
the book as easily as he had written the first half. 

Through the influence of one of his friends. Dr. Alex- 
ander Japp, the story was accepted for Young Folks, in 
which it appeared as a serial. Stevenson at first gave it 
the title of The Sea Cook but at the suggestion of his pub- 
lisher changed it to Treasure Island. In the magazine the 
story attracted no particular attention, but when two 
years later it appeared in book form it won instant recog- 
nition. Of its reception Stevenson’s biographer, Graham 
Balfour, says: 

“Statesmen and judges and all sorts of staid and sober 
men became boys once more, sitting up long after bedtime 
to read their new book. The story goes that Mr. Glad- 
stone got a glimpse of it at a colleague’s house and spent 
the next day hunting over London for a second-hand fcopy. 
The editor of the Saturday Review, the superior, cynical 
‘Saturday’ of old days, wrote excitedly to say that he 
thought Treasure Island was the best book that had ap- 
peared since Robinson Crusoe; and James Payn, who, if 
not a great novelist himself, yet held an undisputed posi- 
tion among novelists and critics, sent a note hardly less 
enthusiastic.” 


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TREASURE ISLAND 


PART I 

THE OLD BUCCANEER 
CHAPTER I 

THE OLD SEA-DOG AT THE ADMIRAL BENBOW 

Squire Trelawney, Doctor Livesey, and the rest of 
these gentlemen having asked me to write down the 
whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the be- 
ginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the 
bearings of the island, and that only because there 
is still treasure not yet lifted, I take up my pen in 
the year of grace 17 — , and go back to the time when 
my father kept the Admiral Benbow Inn, and the 
brown old seaman, with the saber-cut, first took up 
his lodging under our roof. 

I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came 
plodding to the inn door, his sea-chest following 
behind him in a hand-barrow a tall, strong, heavy, 
nut-brown man ; his tarry pig-tail falling over the 
shoulders of his soiled blue coat; his hands ragged 
and scarred, with black, broken nails, and the saber- 
cut across one cheek, a dirty, livid white. I re- 
member him looking round the cove and whistling to 
himself as he did so, and then breaking out in that 
old sea-song that he sung so often afterward: 

‘'Fifteen men on the dead man's chest, 
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!" 

in the high, old tottering voice that seemed to have 
been tuned and broken at the capstan bars.^ Then 
he rapped on the door with a bit of stick like a hand- 


TREASURE ISLAND 


n 

spike that he carried, and when my father appeared, 
called roughly for a glass of rum. This, when it 
was brought to him, he drank slowly, like a connois- 
seur, lingering on the taste, and still looking about 
him at the cliffs and up at our signboard. 

“This is a handy cove,” said he, at length; “and 
a pleasant sittyated grog-shop. Much company, 
mate?” 

My father told him no, very little company, the 
more was the pity. 

“Well, then,” said he, “this is the berth for me. 
Here you, matey,” he cried to the man who trundled 
the barrow; “bring up alongside and help up my 
chest, ril stay here a bit,” he continued. “I’m a 
plain man ; rum and bacon and eggs is what I want, 
and that head up there for to watch ships off. What 
you mought^ call me? You mought call me captain. 
Oh, I see what you’re at — there” ; and he threw down 
three or four gold pieces on the threshold. “You 
can tell me when I’ve worked through that,” said he, 
looking as fierce as a commander. 

And, indeed, bad as his clothes were, and coarsely 
as he spoke, he had none of the appearance of a man 
who sailed before the mast,^ but seemed like a mate 
or skipper, accustomed to be obeyed or to strike. 
The man who came with the barrow told us the mail 
had set him down the morning before at the Royal 
George;*^ that he had inquired what inns there were 
along the coast, and hearing ours well spoken of, I 
suppose, and described as lonely, had chosen it from 
the others for his place of residence. And that was 
all we could learn of our guest. 

He was a very silent man by custom. All day he 
hung round the cove, or upon the cliffs, with a brass 
telescope; all evening he sat in a corner of the parlor 
next the fire, and drank rum and water very strong. 
Mostly he would not speak when spoken to ; only look 
up sudden and fierce, and blow through his nose like 
a fog-horn; and we and the people who came about 


TREASURE ISLAND 


15 


our house soon learned to let him be. Every day, 
when he came back from his stroll, he would ask if 
any seafaring men had gone by along the road. At 
first we thought it was the want of company of his 
own kind that made him ask this question ; but at last 
we began to see he was desirous to avoid them. 
When a seaman put up at the Admiral Benbow (as 
now and then some did, making by the coast road 
for Bristol), he would look in at him through the 
curtained door before he entered the parlor; and 
he was always sure to be as silent as a mouse when 
any such was present. For me, at least, there was no 
secret about the matter ; for I was, in a way, a sharer 
in his alarms. 

He had taken me aside one day and promised me a 
silver fourpenny on the first of every month if I 
would only keep my “weather eye open for a seafar- 
ing man with one leg,” and let him know the moment 
he appeared. Often enough, when the first of the 
month came round, and I applied to him for my wage, 
he would only blow through his nose at me, and stare 
me down, but before the week was out he was sure to 
think better of it, bring me my fourpenny piece, and 
repeat his orders to look out for “the seafaring man 
with one leg.” 

How that personage haunted my dreams, I need 
scarcely tell you. On stormy nights, when the wind 
shook the four corners of the house, and the surf 
roared along the cove and up the cliffs, I would see 
him in a thousand forms, and with a thousand diabol- 
ical expressions. Now the leg would be cut off at 
the knee, now at the hip; now he was a monstrous 
kind of a creature who had never had but the one leg, 
and that in the middle of his body. To see him leap 
and run and pursue me over hedge and ditch, was 
the worst of nightmares. And altogether I paid 
pretty dear for my monthly fourpenny piece in the 
shape of these abominable fancies. 

But though I was sb terrified by the idea of the sea- 


16 


TREASURE ISLAND 


faring man with one leg, I was far less afraid of the 
captain himself than anybody else who knew him. 
There were nights when he took a deal more rum 
and water than his head would carry; and then he 
would sometimes sit and sing his wicked, old, wild 
sea-songs, minding nobody; but sometimes he would 
call for glasses round, and force all the trembling 
company to listen to his stories or bear a chorus to 
his singing. Often I have heard the house shaking 
with “Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum,” all the neigh- 
bors joining in for dear life, with the fear of death 
upon them, and each singing louder than the other 
to avoid remark. For in these fits he was the most 
overriding companion ever known; he would slap 
his hand on the table for silence all round; he would 
fly up in a passion of anger at a question, or some- 
times because none was put, and so he judged the 
company was not following his story. Nor would 
he allow anyone to leave the inn till he had drunk 
himself sleepy and reeled off to bed. 

His stories were what frightened people worst of 
all. Dreadful stories they were; about hanging, and 
walking the plank, ^ and storms at sea, and the Dry 
Tortugas,2 and wild deeds and places on the Spanish 
Main.3 By his own account, he must have lived his 
life among some of the wickedest men that God ever 
allowed upon the sea ; and the language in which he 
told these stories shocked our plain country people 
almost as much as the crimes that he described. 
My father was always saying the inn would be ruined, 
for people would soon cease coming there to be tyr- 
annized over and put down, and sent shivering to 
their beds; but I really believe his presence did us 
good. People were frightened at the time, but on 
looking back they rather liked it; it was a fine ex- 
citement in a quiet country life; and there was even 
a party of the younger men who pretended to admire 
him, calling him a “true sea-dog,” and a “real old 
salt,” and such like names, arid saying there was 


TREASURE ISLAND 


17 


the sort of man that made England terrible at sea. 

In one way, indeed, he bade fair to ruin us ; for he 
kept on staying week after week, and at last month 
after month, so that all the money had been long 
exhausted, and still my father never plucked up the 
heart to insist on having more. If ever he mentioned 
it, the captain blew through his nose so loudly that 
you might say he roared, and stared my poor father 
out of the room. I have seen him wringing his 
hands after such a rebuff, and I am sure the annoy- 
ance and the terror he lived in must have greatly 
hastened his early and unhappy death. 

All the time he lived with us the captain made no 
change whatever in his dress but to buy some stock- 
ings from a hawker.^ One of the cocks^ of his hat 
having fallen down, he let it hang from that day 
forth, though it was a great annoyance when it blew. 
I remember the appearance of his coat, which he 
patched himself upstairs in his room, and which be- 
fore the end, was nothing but patches. He never 
wrote or received a letter, and he never spoke with 
any but the neighbors, and with these, for the most 
part, only when drunk on rum. The great sea-chest 
none of us had ever seen open. 

He was only once crossed, and that was toward the 
end, when my poor father was far gone in a decline 
that took him off. Doctor Livesey came late one 
afternoon to see the patient, took a bit of dinner 
from my mother, and went into the parlor to smoke 
a pipe until his horse should come down from the 
hamlet, for we had no stabling at the old Benbow. 
I followed him in, and I remember observing the 
contrast the neat, bright doctor, with his powder 
as white as snow and his bright, black eyes and 
pleasant manners, made with the coltish country 
folk, and above all, with that filthy, heavy, bleared 
scarecrow of a pirate of ours, sitting far gone in 
rum, with his arms on the table. Suddenly he — the 
captain, that is — began to pipe up his eternal song: 


18 


TREASURE ISLAND 


"Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest — 
Yo-ho’ho ayid a bottle of rum! 

Drink and the devil had done for the rest — 
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!” 

At first I had supposed “the dead man’s chest” to 
be that identical big box of his upstairs in the front 
room, and the thought had been mingled in my night- 
mares with that of the one-legged seafaring man. 
But by this time we had all long ceased to pay any 
particular notice to the song; it was new, that night, 
to nobody but Doctor Livesey, and on him I ob- 
served it did not produce an agreeable effect, for he 
looked up for a moment quite angrily before he went 
on with his talk to old Taylor, the gardener, on a new 
cure for rheumatics. In the meantime the captain 
gradually brightened up at his own music, and at last 
flapped his hand upon the table before him in a way 
we all knew to mean — silence. The voices stopped 
at once, all but Doctor Livesey’s; he went on as 
before, speaking clear and kind, and drawing briskly 
at his pipe between every word or two. The captain 
glared at him for a while, flapped his hand again, 
glared still harder, and at last broke out with a 
villainous low oath: “Silence, there, between decks!” 

“Were you addressing me, sir?” said the doctor; 
and when the ruffian had told him, with another oath, 
that this was so, replied, “I have only one thing to 
say to you, sir, that if you keep on drinking rum, the 
world will soon be quit of a very dirty scoundrel!” 

The old fellow’s fury was awful. He sprang to his 
feet, drew and opened a sailor’s clasp-knife, and 
balancing it open on the palm of his hand, threatened 
to pin the doctor to the wall. 

The doctor never so much as moved. He spoke to 
him, as before, over his shoulder, and in the same 
tone of voice, rather high, so that all the room might 
hear, but perfectly calm and steady: 

“If you do not put that knife this instant into your 


TREASURE ISLAND 


19 


pocket, I promise, upon my honor, you shall hang at 
the next assizes,’’^ 

Then followed a battle of looks between them ; but 
the captain soon knuckled under, put up his weapon, 
and resumed his seat, grumbling like a beaten dog. 

“And now, sir,” continued the doctor, “since I now 
know there’s such a fellow in my district, you may 
count I’ll have an eye upon you day and night. I’m 
not a doctor only. I’m a magistrate; and if I catch 
a breath of complaint against you, if it’s only for a 
piece of incivility like to-night’s. I’ll take effectual 
means to have you hunted down and routed out of 
this. Let that suffice.” 

Soon after. Doctor Livesey’s horse came to the 
door and he rode away, but the captain held his 
peace that evening, and for many evenings to come. 


CHAPTER II 

BLACK DOG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS 

It was not very long after this that there occurred 
the first of the mysterious events that rid us at last 
of the captain, though not, as you will see, of his 
affairs. It was a bitter cold winter, with long, hard 
frosts and heavy gales; and it was plain from the 
first that my poor father was little likely to see the 
spring. He sunk daily, and my mother and I had all 
the inn upon our hands, and were kept busy enough 
without paying much regard to our unpleasant guest. 

It was one January morning, very early — a pinch- 
ing, frosty morning — the cove all gray with hoar- 
frost, the ripple lapping softly on the stones, the sun 
still low, and only touching the hill-tops and shining 
far to seaward. The captain had risen earlier than 
usual, and set out down the beach, his cutlass^ swing- 
ing under the broad skirts of the old blue coat, his 
brass telescope under his arm, his hat tilted back 


20 


TREASURE ISLAND 


upon his head. I remember his breath hanging like 
smoke in his wake as he strode off, and the last sound 
I heard of him, as he turned the big rock, was a loud 
snort of indignation, as though his mind was still 
running upon Doctor Livesey. 

Well, mother was upstairs with farther, and I was 
laying the breakfast table against the captain’s re- 
turn, when the parlor door opened and a man stepped 
in on whom I had never set my eyes before. He was 
a pale, tallowy creature, wanting two fingers of the 
left hand; and, though he wore a cutlass, he did not 
look much like a fighter. I had always my eyes open 
for seafaring men, with one leg or two, and I remem- 
ber this one puzzled me. He was not sailorly, and yet 
he had a smack of the sea about him too, 

I asked him what was for his service, and he said 
he would take rum, but as I was going out of the 
room to fetch it he sat down upon a table and mo- 
tioned to me to draw near. I paused where I was 
with my napkin in my hand. 

“Come here, sonny,” said he. “Come nearer here.” 
I took a step nearer. 

“Is this here table for my mate Bill?” he asked, 
with a kind of leer. 

I told him I did not know his mate Bill, and this 
was for a person who stayed at our house, whom we 
called the captain. 

“Well,” said he, “my mate Bill would be called 
the captain, as like as not. He has a cut on one 
cheek, and a mighty pleasant way with him, particu- 
larly in drink, has my mate Bill. We’ll put it, for 
argument like, that your captain has a cut on one 
cheek — and we’ll put it, if you like, that that cheek’s 
the right one. Ah, well! I told you. Now, is my 
mate Bill in this here house?” 

I told him he was out walking. 

“Which way, sonny? Which way is he gone?” 

And when I had pointed out the rock and told him 
now the captain was likely to return, and how soon, 


TREASURE ISLAND 21 

and answered a few other questions, “Ah,” said he, 
“this’ll be as good as drink to my mate Bill.” 

The expression of his face as he said these words 
was not at all pleasant, and I had my own reasons 
for thinking the stranger was mistaken, even suppos- 
ing he meant what he said. But it was no affair of 
mine, I thought; and, besides, it was difficult to 
know what to do. The stranger kept hanging about 
just inside the inn door, peering round the corner 
like a cat waiting for a mouse. Once I stepped out 
myself into the road, but he immediately called me 
back, and, as I did not obey quick enough for his 
fancy, a most horrible change came over his tallowy 
face, and he ordered me in with an oath that made 
me jump. 

As soon as I was back again he returned to his 
former manner, half-fawning, half-sneering, patted 
me on the shoulder, told me I was a good boy, and 
he had taken quite a fancy to me. “I have a son of 
my own,” said he, “as like you as two blocks, and he’s 
all the pride of my ’art. But the great thing for boys 
is discipline, sonny — discipline. Now, if you had 
sailed along of Bill, you wouldn’t have stood there 
to be spoke to twice — not you. That was never Bill’s 
way, nor the way of sich as sailed with him. And 
here, sure enough, is my mate Bill, with a spy-glass 
under his arm, bless his old ’art, to be sure. You and 
me’ll just go back into the parlor, sonny, and get be- 
hind the door, and we’ll give Bill a little surprise — 
bless his ’art, I say again.” 

So saying, the stranger backed along with me into 
the parlor, and put me behind him in the corner, so 
that we were both hidden by the open door. I was 
very uneasy and alarmed, as you may fancy, and it 
rather added to my fears to observe that the stran- 
ger was certainly frightened himself. He cleared the 
hilt of his cutlass and loosened the blade in the 
sheath, and all the time we were waiting there he 
kept swallowing as if he felt what we used to call 
a lump in the throat. 


22 


TREASURE ISLAND 


At last in strode the captain, slammed the door 
behind him, without looking to the right or left, and 
marched straight across the room to where his break- 
fast awaited him. 

“Bill,” said the stranger, in a voice that I thought 
he had tried to make bold and big. 

The captain spun round on his heel and fronted 
us ; all the brown had gone out of his face, and even 
his nose was blue; he had the look of a man who 
sees a ghost, or the Evil One, or something worse, 
if anything can be ; and, upon my word, I felt sorry 
to see him, all in a moment, turn so old and sick. 

“Come, Bill, you know me; you know an old ship- 
mate, Bill, surely,” said the stranger. 

The captain made a sort of gasp. 

“Black Dog!” said he. 

“And who else?” returned the other, getting more 
at his ease. “Black Dog as ever was, come for to 
see his old shipmate, Billy, at the Admiral Benbow 
Inn. Ah, Bill, Bill, we have seen a sight of times, 
us two, since I lost them two talons,” holding up his 
mutilated hand. 

“Now, look here,” said the captain; “you’ve run 
me down ; here I am ; well, then, speak up ; what is 
it?” 

“That’s you. Bill,” returned Black Dog; “you’re 
in the right of it, Billy. I’ll have a glass of rum from 
this dear child here, as I’ve took such a liking to; 
and we’ll sit down, if you please, and talk square, 
like old shipmates.” 

When I returned with the rum they were already 
seated on either side of the captain’s breakfast table 
— Black Dog next to the door, and sitting sideways, 
so as to have one eye on his old shipmate and one, as 
I thought, on his retreat. 

He bade me go and leave the door wide open. 
“None of your key-holes for me, sonny,” he said, and 
I left them together and retired into the bar. 

For a long time, though I certainly did my best 


TREASURE ISLAND 


23 


to listen, I could hear nothing but a low gabbling; 
but at last the voices began to grow higher, and I 
could pick up a word or two, mostly oaths, from 
the captain. 

“No, no, no, no; and an end of it!” he cried once. 
And again, “if it comes to swinging,^ swing all, say I.” 

Then all of a sudden there was a tremendous ex- 
plosion of oaths and other noises; the chair and table 
went over in a lump, a clash of steel followed, and 
then a cry of pain, and the next instant I saw Black 
Dog in full flight, and the captain hotly pursuing, 
both with drawn cutlasses, and the former streaming 
blood from the left shoulder. Just at the door the 
captain aimed at the fugitive one last tremendous 
cut, which would certainly have split him to the chine 
had it not been intercepted by our big signboard of 
Admiral Benbow. You may see the notch on the low- 
er side of the frame to this day. 

That blow was the last of the battle. Once out 
upon the road. Black Dog, in spite of his wound, 
showed a wonderful clean pair of heels, and disap- 
peared over the edge of the hill in half a minute. 
The captain, for his part, stood staring at the sign- 
board like a bewildered man. Then he passed his 
hand over his eyes several times, and at last turned 
back into the house. 

“Jim,” says he, “rum”; and as he spoke he reeled 
a little, and caught himself with one hand against 
the wall. 

“Are you hurt?” cried 1. 

“Rum,” he repeated. “I must get away from here. 
Rum! rum!” 

I ran to fetch it, but I was quite unsteadied by all 
that had fallen out, and I broke one glass and fouled 
the tap, and while I was still getting in my own wajf, 
I heard a loud fall in the parlor, and, running in, 
beheld the captain lying full length upon the floor. 
At the same time my mother, alarmed by the cries 
and fighting, came running downstairs to help me. 


u 


TREASURE ISLAND 


Between us we raised his head. He was breathing 
very loud and hard, but his eyes were closed and his 
face was a horrible color. 

“Dear, deary me!” cried my mother, “what a dis- 
grace upon the house. And your poor father sick!” 

In the meantime we had no idea what to do to help 
the captain, nor any other thought but that he had 
got his death-hurt in the scuffle with the stranger. 
I got the rum, to be sure, and tried to put it down 
his throat, but his teeth were tightly shut, and his 
jaws as strong as iron. It was a happy relief for us 
when the door opened and Doctor Livesey came in, 
on his visit to my father. 

“Oh, doctor,” we cried, “what shall we do? Where 
is he wounded?” 

“Wounded? A fiddle-stick’s end!” said the doc- 
tor. “No more wounded than you or I. The man has 
had a stroke, as I warned him. Now, Mrs. Hawkins, 
just you run upstairs to your husband and tell him, if 
possible, nothing about it. For my part, I must do 
my best to save this fellow’s trebly worthless life; 
and Jim here will get me a basin.” 

When I got back with the basin the doctor had al- 
ready ripped up the captain’s sleeve and exposed his 
great sinewy arm. It was tattooed in several places. 
“Here’s luck,” “A fair wind,” and “Billy Bones, his 
fancy,” were very neatly and clearly executed on the 
forearm; and up near the shoulder there was a 
sketch of a gallows and a man hanging from it — 
done, as I thought, with great spirit. 

“Prophetic,” said the doctor, touching this picture 
with his finger. “And now. Master Billy Bones, if 
that be your name, we’ll have a look at the color of 
your blood. Jim,” he said, “are you afraid of blood?” 

“No, sir,” said I. 

“Well, then,” said he, “you hold the basin,” and 
with that he took his lancet and opened a vein.^ 

A great deal of blood was taken before the captain 
opened his eyes and looked mistily about him. First 


TREASURE ISLAND 


25 


he recognized the doctor with an unmistakable 
frown ; then his glance fell upon me, and he looked 
relieved. But suddenly his color changed, and he 
tried to raise himself, crying : 

“Where’s Black Dog?” 

“There is no Black Dog here,” said the doctor, 
“except what you have on your own back.^ You have 
been drinking rum ; you have had a stroke precisely 
as I told you ; and I have just, very much against my 
own will, dragged you headforemost out of the grave. 
Now, Mr. Bones ” 

“That’s not my name,” he interrupted. 

“Much I Care,” returned the doctor. “It’s the 
name of a buccaneer of my acquaintance, and I call 
you by it for the sake of shortness, and what I have 
to say to you is this : One glass of rum won’t kill you, 
but if you take one you’ll take another and another, 
and I stake my wig if you don’t break off short, you’ll 
die; do you understand that? die, and go to your 
own place, like the man in the Bible. Come, now, 
make an effort. I’ll help you to your bed for once.” 

Between us, with much trouble, we managed to 
hoist him upstairs, and laid him on his bed, where 
his head fell back on the pillow, as if he were almost 
fainting. 

“Now, mind you,” said the doctor, “I clear my con- 
science — the name of rum for you is death.” 

And with that he went off to see my father, taking 
me with him by the arm. 

“This is nothing,” he said, as soon as he had 
closed the door. “I have drawn blood enough to keep 
him quiet awhile ; he should lie for a week where he 
is — that is the best thing for him and you, but an- 
other stroke would settle him.” 


26 


TREASURE ISLAND 


CHAPTER III 

THE BLACK SPOT 

About noon I stopped at the captain’s door with 
some cooling drinks and medicines. He was lying 
very much as we had left him, only a little higher, 
and he seemed both weak and excited. 

“Jim,” he said, “you’re the only one here that’s 
worth anything ; and you know I’ve always been good 
to you. Never a month but I’ve given you a silver 
fourpenny for yourself. And now you see, mate, 
I’m pretty low, and deserted by all; and Jim, you’ll 
bring me one noggin^ of rum, now won’t you, matey?” 

“The doctor ” I began. 

But he broke in cursing the doctor, in a feeble 
voice, but heartily. “Doctors is all swabs,”^ he said; 
“and that doctor there, why, what do he know about 
seafaring men? I been in places hot as pitch, and 
mates dropping round with Yellow Jack,^ and the 
blessed land a-heaving like the sea with earthquakes 
— what do the doctor know of lands like that? — and 
I lived on rum, I tell you. It’s been meat and drink, 
and man and wife, to me; and if I am not to have 
my rum now I’m a poor old hulk on a lee shore.** 
My blood’ll be on you, Jim, and that doctor swab,” 
and he ran on again for awhile with curses. “Look, 
Jim, how my fingers fidges,”® he continued in the 
pleading tone. “I can’t keep ’em still, not I. I 
haven’t had a drop this blessed day. That doctor’s 
a fool, I tell you. If I don’t have a drain o’ rum, 
Jim, I’ll have the horrors ; I seen some on ’em already. 
I seen old Flint in the corner there, behind you; as 
plain as print, I seen him; and if I get the horrors, 
I’m a man that has lived rough, and I’ll raise Cain. 
Your doctor hisself said one glass wouldn’t hurt me. 
I’ll give you a golden guinea for a noggin, Jim.” 

He was growing more and more excited, and this 
alarmed me, for my father, who was very low that 


TREASURE ISLAND 


$7 


day, needed quiet; besides, I was reassured by the 
doctor’s words, now quoted to me, and rather offend- 
ed by the offer of a bribe. 

“I want none of your money,” said I, “but what 
you owe my father. I’ll get you one glass and no 
more.” 

When I brought it to him he seized it greedily and 
drank it out. 

“Aye, aye,” said he, “that’s some better, sure 
enough. And now, matey, did that doctor say how 
long I was to lie in this old berth?” 

“A week, at least,” said I. 

“Thunder!” he cried. “A week! I can’t do that; 
they’d have a black spot on me by then. The lub- 
bers^ is going about to get the wind of me this 
blessed moment; lubbers as couldn’t keep what they 
got, and want to nail what is another’s. Is that 
seamanly behavior, now, I want to know? But I’m 
a saving soul. I never wasted good money of mine, 
nor lost it neither; and I’ll trick ’em again. I’m not 
afraid on ’em. I’ll shake out another reef,^ matey, 
and daddle^ ’em again.” 

As he was thus speaking, he had risen from bed 
with great difficulty, holding to my shoulder with a 
grip that almost made me cry out, and moving his 
legs like so much dead weight. His words, spirited 
as they were in meaning, contrasted sadly with the 
weakness of the voice in which they were uttered. 
He paused when he had got into a sitting position 
on the edge. 

“That doctor’s done me,” he murmured. “My ears 
is singing. Lay me back.” 

Before I could do much to help him he had fallen 
back again to his former place, where he lay for 
awhile silent. 

“Jim,” he said, at length, “you saw that seafaring 
man to-day?” 

“Black Dog?” I asked. 

“Ah! Black Dog,” said he. “He’s a bad ’un ; but 


28 


TREASURE ISLAND 


there’s worse that put him on. Now, if I can’t get 
away nohow, and they tip me the black spot, mind 
you, it’s my old sea-chest they’re after; you get on 
a horse — you can, can’t you ? Well, then, you get on 
a horse and go to — well, yes, I will ! — to that eternal 
doctor swab, and tell him to pipe^ all hands — magis- 
trates and sich — and he’ll lay ’em aboard at the Ad- 
miral Benbow — all old Flint’s crew, man and boy, all 
on ’em that’s left. I was first mate, I was, old Flint’s 
first mate, and I’m the on’y one as knows the place. He 
gave it me to Savannah, when he lay a-dying, like as 
if I was to now, you see. But you won’t peach^ un- 
less they get the black spot on me, or unless you see 
that Black Dog again, or a seafaring man with one 
leg, Jim — him above all.” 

“But what is the black spot, captain?” I asked. 

“That’s a summons, mate. I’ll tell you if they get 
that. But you keep your weather-eye open, Jim, and 
I’ll share with you equals, upon my honor.” 

He wandered a little longer, his voice growing 
weaker; but soon after I had given him his medicine, 
which he took like a child, with the remark, “If ever 
a seaman wanted drugs, it’s me,” he fell at last into 
a heavy swoon-like sleep, in which I left him. What 
I should have done had all gone well I do not know. 
Probably I should have told the whole story to the 
doctor; for I was in mortal fear lest the captain 
should repent of his confessions and make an end of 
me. But as things fell out, my poor father died quite 
suddenly that evening, which put all other matters 
on one side. Our natural distress, the visits of the 
neighbors, the arranging of the funeral, and all the 
work of the inn to be carried on in the meanwhile, 
kept me so busy that I had scarcely time to think of 
the captain, far less to be afraid of him. 

He got downstairs next morning, to be sure, and 
had his meals as usual, though he eat^ little, and had 
more, I am afraid, than his usual supply of rum, for 
he helped himself out of the bar, scowling and blow- 


TREASURE ISLAND 


29 


ing through his nose, and no one dared to cross him. 
On the night before the funeral he was as drunk as 
ever; and it was shocking, in that house of mourn- 
ing, to hear him singing away his ugly old sea-song; 
but weak as he was, we were all in fear of death for 
him, and the doctor was suddenly taken up with a 
case many miles away, and was never near the house 
after my father’s death. I have said the captain was 
weak, and indeed he seemed rather to grow weaker 
than to regain his strength. He clambered up and 
down stairs, and went from the parlor to the bar and 
back again, and sometimes put his nose out-of-doors 
to smell the sea, holding on to the walls as he went 
for support, and breathing hard and fast, like a man 
on a steep mountain. He never particularly address- 
ed me, and it is my belief he had as good as forgotten 
his confidences; but his temper was more flighty, 
and, allowing for his bodily weakness, more violent 
than ever. He had an alarming way now when he 
was drunk of drawing his cutlass and laying it bare 
before him on the table. But with all that, he minded 
people less, and seemed shut up in his own thoughts 
and rather wandering. Once, for instance, to our ex- 
treme wonder, he piped up to a different air, a kind 
of country love-song, that he must have learned in his 
youth before he had begun to follow the sea. 

So things passed until the day after the funeral 
and about three o’clock of a bitter, foggy, frosty 
afternoon, I was standing at the door for a. moment, 
full of sad thoughts about my father, when I saw 
someone drawing slowly near along the road. He 
was plainly blind, for he tapped before him with a 
stick, and wore a great green shade over his eyes 
and nose; and he was hunched, as if with age or 
weakness, and wore a huge old tattered sea-cloak 
with a hood that made him appear positively deform- 
ed. I never saw in my life a more dreadful-looking 
figure. He stopped a little from the inn and, raising 


30 TREASURE ISLAND 

his voice in an old sing-song, addressed the air in 
front of him: 

“Will any kind friend inform a poor blind man, 
who has lost the precious sight of his eyes in the 
gracious defense of his native country, England, and 
God bless King George! — where or in what part of 
this country he may now be?” 

“You are at the Admiral Benbow, Black Hill Cove, 
my good man,” said I. 

“I hear a voice,” said he, “a young voice. Will you 
give me your hand, my kind young friend, and lead 
me in?” 

I held out my hand, and the horrible, soft-spoken, 
eyeless creature gripped it in a moment like a vise. 
I was so much startled that I struggled to withdraw, 
but the blind man pulled me close up to him with a 
single action of his arm. 

“Now, boy,” he said, “take me in to the captain.” 

“Sir,” said I, “upon my word I dare not.” 

“Oh,” he sneered, “that’s it! Take me in straight, 
or I’ll break your arm.” 

He gave it, as he spoke, a wrench that made me cry 
out. 

“Sir,” said I, “it is for yourself I mean. The cap- 
tain is not what he used to be. He sits with a drawn 
cutlass. Another gentleman ” 

“Come, now, march,” interrupted he, and I never 
heard a voice so cruel, and cold, and ugly as that 
blind man’s. It cowed me more than the pain, and 
I began to obey him at once, walking straight in at 
the door and toward the parlor, where the sick old 
buccaneer was sitting, dazed with rum. The blind 
man clung close to me, holding me in one iron fist, 
and leaning almost more of his weight on me than I 
could carry. “Lead me straight up to him, and when 
I’m in view, cry out, ‘Here’s a friend for you, Bill.’ 
If you don’t. I’ll do this,” and with that he gave me a 
twitch that I thought would have made me faint. Be- 
tween this and that, I was so utterly terrified by the 


TREASURE ISLAND 


31 


blind beggar that I forgot my terror of the captain, 
and as I opened the parlor door, cried out the words 
he had ordered in a trembling voice. 

The poor captain raised his eyes, and at one look 
the rum went out of him and left him staring sober. 
The expression of his face was not so much of terror 
as of mortal sickness. He made a movement to rise, 
but I do not believe he had enough force left in his 
body. 

“Now, Bill, sit where you are,” said the beggar. 
“If I can’t see, I can hear a finger stirring. Business 
is business. Hold out your left hand. Boy, take his 
left hand by the wrist and bring it near to my right.” 

We both obeyed him to the letter, and I saw him 
pass something from the hollow of the hand that held 
his stick into the palm of the captain’s, which closed 
upon it instantly. 

“And now that’s done,” said the blind man, and at 
the words he suddenly left hold of me, and with in- 
credible accuracy and nimbleness, skipped out of the 
parlor and into the road, where, as I stood motion- 
less, I could hear his stick go tap-tap-tapping into 
the distance. 

It was some time before either I or the captain 
seemed to gather our senses; but at length, and 
about the same moment, I released his wrist, which I 
was still holding, and he drew in his hand, and looked 
sharply into the palm. 

“Ten o’clock!” he cried. “Six hours! We’ll do 
them yet!” and he sprung to his feet. 

Even as he did so, he reeled, put his hand to his 
throat, stood swaying for a moment, and then, with a 
peculiar sound, fell from his whole height face fore- 
most to the floor. 

I ran to him at once, calling to my mother. But 
haste was all in vain. The captain had been struck 
dead by thundering apoplexy. It is a curious thing 
to understand, for I had certainly never liked the 
man, though of late I had begun to pity him, but as 


32 


TREASURE ISLAND 


soon as I saw that he was dead I burst into a flood 
of tears. It was the second death I had known, and 
the sorrow of the first was still fresh in my heart. 


CHAPTER- IV 

THE SEA-CHEST 

I lost no time, of course, in telling my mother all 
that I knew, and perhaps should have told her long 
before, and we saw ourselves at once in a difficult and 
dangerous position. Some of the man’s money — if 
he had any — was certainly due to us, but it was not 
likely that our captain’s shipmates, alDOve all the two 
specimens seen by me — Black Dog and the blind beg- 
gar — would be inclined to give up their booty in pay- 
ment of the dead man’s debts. The captain’s order 
to mount at once and ride for Doctor Livesey would 
have left my mother alone and unprotected, which 
was not to be thought of. Indeed, it seemed impossi- 
ble for either of us to remain much longer in the 
house; the fall of coals in the kitchen grate, the 
very ticking of the clock, filled us with alarm. 

The neighborhood, to our ears, seemed haunted by 
approaching footsteps; and what between the dead 
body of the captain on the parlor floor and the 
thought of that detestable blind beggar hovering near 
at hand and ready to return, there were moments 
when, as the saying goes, I jumped in my skin for 
terror. Something must speedily be resolved upon, 
and it occurred to us at last to go forth together and 
seek help in the neighboring hamlet. No sooner said 
than done. Bare-headed as we were, we ran out at 
once in the gathering evening and the frosty fog. 

The hamlet lay not many hundred yards away, 
though out of view, on the other side of the next 
cove ; and what greatly encouraged me, it was in an 
opposite direction from that whence the blind man 


TREASURE ISLAND 


33 


had made his appearance, and whither he had pre- 
sumably returned. We were not many minutes on 
the road, though we sometimes stopped to lay hold 
of each other and hearken. But there was no unusual 
sound — nothing but the low wash of the ripple and 
the croaking of the crows in the wood. 

It was already candle-light when we reached the 
hamlet, and I shall never forget how much I was 
cheered to see the yellow shine in doors and windows ; 
but that, as it proved, was the best of the help we 
were likely to get in that quarter. For — you would 
have thought men would have been ashamed of them- 
selves — no soul would consent to return with us to the 
Admiral Benbow. The more we told of our troubles, 
the more — man, woman, and child — they clung to the 
shelter of their houses. The name of Captain Flint, 
though it was strange to me, was well enough known 
to some there, and carried a great weight of terror. 
Some of the men who had been to field-work on the 
far side of the Admiral Benbow remembered, besides, 
to have seen several strangers on the road, and, tak- 
ing them to be smugglers, to have bolted away; and 
one at least had seen a little lugger^ in what we called 
Kitt’s Hole. For that matter, anyone who was a 
comrade of the captain’s was enough to frighten 
them to death. And the short and the long of the 
matter was, that while we could get several who were 
willing enough to ride to Doctor Livesey’s, which lay 
in another direction, not one would help us to defend 
the inn. 

They say cowardice is infectious; but then argu- 
ment is, on the other hand, a great emboldener; and 
so when each had his say, my mother made them a 
speech. She would not, she declared, lose money that 
belonged to her fatherless boy. “If none of the rest 
of you dare,” she said, “Jim and I dare. Back we 
will go, the way we came, and small thanks to you big, 
hulking, chicken-hearted men ! We’ll have that chest 
open, if we die for it. And I’ll thank you for that 


3U TREASURE ISLAND 

bag, Mrs. Crossley, to bring back our lawful money 
in.” 

Of course 1 said I would go with my mother; and 
of course they all cried out at our foolhardiness; 
but even then not a man would go along with us. 
All they would do was to give me a loaded pistol, lest 
we were attacked; and to promise to have horses 
ready saddled, in case we were pursued on our re- 
turn; while one lad was to ride forward to the doc- 
tor’s in search of armed assistance. 

My heart was beating fiercely when we two set 
forth in the cold night upon this dangerous venture. 
A full moon was beginning to rise and peered redly 
through the upper edges of the fog, and this in- 
creased our haste, for it was plain, before we came 
forth again, that all would be bright as day, and our 
departure exposed to the eyes of any watchers. We 
slipped along the hedges, noiseless and swift, nor did 
we see or hear anything to increase our terrors till, 
to our huge relief, the door of the Admiral Benbow 
had closed behind us. 

I slipped the bolt at once, and we stood and panted 
for a moment in the dark, alone in the house with the 
dead captain’s body. Then my mother got a candle 
in the bar, and, holding each other’s hands, we ad- 
vanced into the parlor. He lay as we had left him, 
on his back, with his eyes open, and one arm stretch- 
ed out. 

“Draw down the blind, Jim,” whispered my 
mother; “they might come and watch outside. And 
now,” said she, when I had done so, “we have to 
get the key off that; and who’s to touch it, I should 
like to know?” and she gave a kind of sob as she 
said the words. 

I went down on my knees at once. On the floor 
close to his hand there was a little round of paper, 
blackened on one side. I could not doubt that this 
was the black spot; and, taking it up, I found written 


TREASURE ISLAND 


35 


on the other side, in a very good, clear hand, this 
short mesage, “You have till ten to-night.” 

“He had till ten, mother,” said I; and, just as I 
said it, our old clock began striking. This sudden 
noise startled us shockingly; but the news was good, 
for it was only six. 

“Now, Jim,” she said, “that key!” 

I felt in his pockets, one after another. A few 
small coins, a thimble, and some thread and big 
needles, a piece of pigtail tobacco bitten away at the 
end, his gully^ with the crooked handle, a pocket com- 
pass, and a tinder-box, were all that they contained, 
and I began to despair. 

“Perhaps it’s round his neck,” suggested my 
mother. 

Overcoming a strong repugnance, I tore open his 
shirt at the neck, and there, sure enough, hanging to 
a bit of tarry string, which I cut with his own gully, 
we found the key. At this triumph we were filled 
with hope, and hurried upstairs, without delay, to the 
little room where he had slept so long, and where 
his box had stood since the day of his arrival. 

It was like any other seaman’s chest on the outside, 
the initial “B” burned on the top of it with a hot 
iron, anW the corners somewhat smashed and broken 
as by long, rough usage. 

“Give me the key,” said my mother, and though 
the lock was very stiff, she had turned it and thrown 
back the lid in a twinkling. 

A strong smell of tobacco and tar arose from the 
interior, but nothing was to be seen on the top except 
a suit of very good clothes, carefully brushed and 
folded. They had never been worn, my mother said. 
Under that the miscellany began — a quadrant, a tin 
cannikin, several sticks of tobacco, two brace of very 
handsome pistols, a piece of bar silver, an old Span- 
ish watch, and some other trinkets of little value and 
mostly of foreign make, a pair of compasses mounted 
with brass, and five or six curious West Indian shells. 


36 


TREASURE ISLAND 


It has often set me thinking since that he should have 
carried about these shells with him in his wandering, 
guilty, haunted life. 

In the meantime we found nothing of any value but 
the silver and the trinkets, and neither of these were 
in our way. Underneath there was an old boat-cloak, 
whitened with sea-salt on many a harbor-bar. My 
mother pulled it up with impatience, and there lay be- 
fore us, the last things in the chest, a bundle tied up 
in oil-cloth, and looking like papers, and a canvas bag 
that gave forth, at a touch, the jingle of gold. 

“I’ll show those rogues that I’m an honest woman,” 
said my mother. “I’ll have my dues and not a farth- 
ing over. Hold Mrs. Crossley’s bag.” And she began 
to count over the amount of the captain’s score from 
the sailor’s bag into the one that I was holding. 

It was a long difficult business, for the coins were 
of all countries and sizes — doubloons, ^ and louis- 
d’ors,^ and guineas,^ and pieces of eight, ^ and I know 
not what besides, all shaken together at random. The 
guineas, too, were about the scarcest, and it was with 
these only that my mother knew how to make her 
count. 

When we were about halfway through, I suddenly 
put my hand upon her arm, for I had heard in the 
silent, frosty air, a sound that brought my heart into 
my mouth — the tap-tapping of the blind man’s stick 
upon the frozen road. It drew nearer and nearer, 
while we sat holding our breath. Then it struck 
sharp on the inn door, and then we could hear the 
handle being turned, and the bolt rattling as the 
wretched being tried to enter; and then there was a 
long time of silence both within and without. At 
last the tapping recommenced, and to our indescrib- 
able joy and gratitude, died slowly away again until 
it ceased to be heard. 

“Mother,” said I, “take the whole and let’s be 
going,” for I was sure the bolted door must have 
seemed suspicious, and would bring the whole hor- 


TREASURE ISLAND 


S7 


net’s nest about our ears, though how thankful I was 
that I had bolted it, none could tell who had never 
met that terrible blind man. 

But my mother, frightened as she was, would not 
consent to take a fraction more than was due to her, 
and was obstinately unwilling to be content with less. 
It was not yet seven, she said, by a long way; she 
knew her riglits and she would have them; and she 
was still arguing with me, when a little low whistle 
sounded a good way off upon the hill. That was 
enough, and more than enough, for both of us. 

“I’ll take what I have,” she said, jumping to her 
feet. 

“And I’ll take this to square the count,” said I, 
picking up the oilskin packet. 

Next moment we were both groping downstairs, 
leaving the candle by the empty chest ; and the next 
we had opened the door and were in full retreat. We 
had not started a moment too soon. The fog was 
rapidly dispersing; already the moon shone quite 
clear on the high ground on either side, and it was 
only in the exact bottom of the dell and round the 
tavern door that a thin veil still hung unbroken to 
conceal the first steps of our escape. Far less than 
halfway to the hamlet, very little beyond the bottom 
of the hill, we must come forth into the moonlight. 
Nor was this all ; for the sound of several footsteps 
running came already to our ears, and as we looked 
back in their direction, a light, tossing to and fro, 
and still rapidly advancing, showed that one of the 
newcomers carried a lantern. 

“My dear,” said my mother, suddenly, “take the 
money and run on. I am going to faint.” 

This was certainly the end for both of us, I 
thought. How I cursed the cowardice of the neigh- 
bors! how I blamed my poor mother for her honesty 
and her greed; for her past foolhardiness and pres- 
ent weakness! We were just at the little bridge, by 
good fortune, and I helped her, tottering as she was. 


38 


TREASURE ISLAND 


to the edge of the bank, where, sure enough, she gave 
a sigh and fell on my shoulder. I do not know how 
I found the strength to do it at all, and I am afraid it 
was roughly done, but I managed to drag her down 
the bank and a little way under the arch. Farther 
I could not move her, for the bridge was too low to 
let me do more than crawl below it. ,So there we 
had to stay — my mother almost entirely exposed, and 
both of us within ear-shot of the inn. 


CHAPTER V 

THE LAST OF THE BLIND MAN 

My curiosity, in a sense, was stronger than my 
fear; for I could not remain where I was, but crept 
back to the bank again, whence, sheltering my head 
behind a bush of broom, I might command the road 
before our door. I was scarcely in position ere my 
enemies began to arrive, seven or eight of them, run- 
ning hard, their feet beating out of time along the 
road, and the man with the lantern some paces in 
front. Three men ran together, hand in hand ; and I 
made out, even through the mist, that the middle man 
of this trio was the blind beggar. The next moment 
his voice showed me that. I was right. 

“Down with the door !” he cried. 

“Aye, aye, sir!” answered two or three; and a 
rush was made upon the Admiral Benbow, the lan- 
tern-bearer following; and then I could see them 
pause, and hear speeches passed in a lower key, as if 
they were surprised to find the door open. But the 
pause was brief, for the blind man again issued his 
commands. His voice sounded louder and higher, 
as if he were afire with eagerness and rage. 

“In, in, in !” he shouted, and cursed them for their 
delay. 

Four or five of them obeyed at once, two remaining 


TREASURE ISLAND 


39 


on the road with the formidable beggar. There was 
a pause, then a cry of surprise, and then a voice 
shouting from the house : 

“Bill’s dead!” 

But the blind man swore at them again for their 
delay. 

“Search him, some of yon shirking lubbers, and 
the rest of you aloft and get the chest,” he cried. 

I could hear their feet rattling up our old stairs, 
so that the house must have shook with it. Promptly 
afterward fresh sounds of astonishment arose; the 
window of the captain’s room was thrown open with 
a slam and a jingle of broken glass, and a man leaned 
out into the moonlight, head and shoulders, and ad- 
dressed the blind beggar on the road below him. 

“Pew!” he cried, “they’ve been before us. Some- 
one’s turned the chest out alow and aloft.” 

“Is it there?” roared Pew. 

“The money’s there.” 

The blind man cursed the money. 

“Flint’s fist,^ I mean,” he cried. 

“We don’t see it here, nohow,” returned the man. 

“Here, you below here, is it on Bill?” cried the 
blind man again. 

At that another fellow, probably he who had re- 
mained below to search the captain’s body, came to 
the door of the inn. “Bill’s been overhauled a’ready,” 
said he, “nothin’ left.” 

“It’s these people of the inn — it’s that boy. I wish 
I had put his eyes out!” cried the blind man. Pew, 
“They were here no time ago — they had the door 
bolted when I tried it. Scatter, lads, and find ’em.” 

“Sure enough, they left their glim here,” said the 
fellow from the window. 

“Scatter and find ’em! Rout the house out!” 
reiterated Pew, striking with his stick upon the road. 

Then there followed a great to-do through all our 
old inn, heavy feet pounding to and fro, furniture all 
thrown over, doors kicked in, until the very rocks re- 


TREASURE ISLAND 


J^0 

echoed, and the men came out again, one after an- 
other, on the road, and declared that we were no- 
where to be found. And just then the same whistle 
that had alarmed my mother and myself over the 
dead captain's money was once more clearly audible 
through the night, but this time twice repeated. I 
had thought it to be the blind man’s trumpet, so to 
speak, summoning his crew to the assault ; but I now 
found that it was a signal from the hillside toward 
the hamlet, and from its effect upon the buccaneers, 
a signal to warn them of approaching danger. 

“There’s Dirk again,” said one. “Twice! We’ll 
have to budge, mates.” 

“Budge, you skulk!” cried Pew. “Dirk was a fool 
and a coward from the first — you wouldn’t mind 
him. They must be close by; they can’t be far; you 
have your hands on it. Scatter and look for them, 
dogs. Oh, shiver my soul,” he cried, “if I had eyes !” 

This appeal seemed to produce some effect, for 
two of the fellows began to look here and there 
among the lumber, but half-heartedly, I thought, and 
with half an eye to their own danger all the time, 
while the rest stood irresolute on the road. 

“You have your hands on thousands, you fools, 
and you hang a leg!^ You’d be as rich as kings if 
you could find it, and you know it’s here, and you 
stand there malingering.^ There wasn’t one of you 
dared face Bill, and I did it — a blind man! And I’m 
to lose my chance for you ! I’m to be a poor, crawl- 
ing beggar, sponging for rum, when I might be roll- 
ing in a coach ! If you had the pluck of a weevil in a 
biscuit, you would catch them still.” 

“Hang it. Pew, we’ve got the doubloons!” grum- 
bled one. 

“They might have hid the blessed thing,” said 
another. “Take the Georges,^ Pew, and don’t stand 
here squalling.” 

Squalling was the word for it ; Pew’s anger rose so 
high at these objections, till at last, his passion com- 


TREASURE ISLAND 


U 


pletely taking the upper hand, he struck at them right 
and left in his blindness, and his sticki Sounded 
heavily on more than one. ; li. 

These, in their turn, cursed back at the blind mis- 
creant, threatened him in horrid terms, and tried in 
vain to catch the stick and wrest it from his grasp. 

This quarrel was the saving of us; for while it 
was still raging, another sound came from the top of 
the hill on the side of the hamlet — the tramp of 
horses galloping. Almost at the same time a pistol- 
shot, flash, and report came from the hedge-side. 
And that was plainly the last signal of danger, for 
the buccaneers turned at once and ran, separating 
in every direction, one seaward along the cove, one 
slant across the hill, and so on, so that in half a min- , 
ute not a sign of them remained but Pew. Him they 
had deserted, whether in sheer panic or out of re- 
venge for his ill words and blows, I know not; but 
there he remained behind, tapping up and down the 
road in a frenzy, and groping and calling for his eom- 
rades. Finally he took the wrong turn, and ran a 
few steps past me, toward the hamlet, crying: 

“Johnny, Black Dog, Dirk,” and other names, “you 
won’t leave old Pew, mates — not old Pew?” 

Just then the noise of horses topped the rise, and 
four or five riders came in sight in the moonlight, 
and swept at full gallop down the slope. 

At this Pew saw his error, turned with a scream, 
and ran straight for the ditch, into which he rolled. 
But he was on his feet again in a second, and made 
another dash, now utterly bewildered, right under 
the nearest of the coming horses. 

The rider tried to save him, but in vain. Down 
went Pew with a cry that rang high into the night, 
and the four hoofs trampled and spurned him and 
passed by. He fell on his side, then gently collapsed 
upon his face, and moved no more. 

I leaped to my feet and hailed the riders. They 
were pulling up, at any rate, horrified at the accident, 


TREASURE ISLAND 


U2 

and I soon saw what they were. One, tailing out 
behind the rest, was a lad that had gone from the 
hamlet to Doctor Livesey’s; the rest were revenue 
officers, whom he had met by the way, and with 
whom he had had the intelligence to return at once. 
Some news of the lugger in Kitt’s Hole had found its 
way to Supervisor Dance, and sent him forth that 
night in our direction, and to that circumstance my 
mother and I owed our preservation from death. 

Pew was dead, stone dead. As for my mother, 
when we had carried her up to the hamlet, a little 
cold water and salts very soon brought her back 
again, and she was none the worse for her terror, 
though she still continued to deplore the balance of 
-the money. 

In the meantime the supervisor rode on, as fast 
as he could, to Kitt’s Hole ; but his men had to dis- 
mount and grope down the dingle, leading, and some- 
times supporting, their horses, and in continual fear 
of ambushers ; so it was no great matter for surprise 
that when we got down to the Hole the lugger was 
already under way, though still close in. He hailed 
her. A voice replied, telling him to keep out of the 
moonlight, or he would get some lead in him, and at 
the same time a bullet whistled close by his arm. 
Soon after, the lugger doubled the point and disap- 
peared. Mr. Dance stood there, as he said, “like a 
fish out of water,” and all he could do was to dispatch 

a man to B ^to warn the cutter.^ “And that,” said 

he, “is just about as good as nothing. They’ve got off 
clean, and there’s an end. Only,” he added, “I’m glad 
I trod on Master Pew’s corns,” for by this time he had 
heard my story. 

I went back with him to the Admiral Benbow, and 
you cannot imagine a house in such a state of smash ; 
the very clock had been thrown down by these fellows 
in their furious hunt after my mother and myself; 
and though nothing had actually been taken away ex- 
cept the captain’s money-bag and a little silver from 


TREASURE ISLAND US 

the till, I could see at once that we were ruined. Mr. 
Dance could make nothing of the scene. 

“They got the money, you say? Well, then, 
Hawkins, what in fortune were they after? More 
money, I suppose?” 

“No, sir; not money, I think,” replied I.' “In fact, 
sir, I believe I have the thing in my breast-pocket; 
and, to tell you the truth, I should like to get it put in 
safety.” 

“To be sure, boy; quite right,” said he. “ITl take 
it, if you like.” 

“ I thought, perhaps. Doctor Livesey — ” I began. 

“Perfectly right,” he interrupted, very cheerily, 
“perfectly right — a gentleman and a magistrate. 
And, now I come to think of it, I might as well ride 
round there myself and report to him or squire. 
Master Pew’s dead, when all’s done; not that I re- 
gret it, but he’s dead, you see, and people will make 
it out against an officer of his majesty’s revenue, if 
make it out they can. Now, I’ll tell you, Hawkins, 
if you like. I’ll take you along.” 

I thanked him heartily for the offer, and we walked 
back to the hamlet where the horses were. By the 
time I had told mother of my purpose they were all 
in the saddle. 

“Dogger,” said Mr. Dance, “you have a good horse ; 
take up this lad behind you.” 

As soon as I was mounted, holding on to Dogger’s 
belt, the supervisor gave the word, and the party 
struck out at a bouncing trot on the road to Doctor 
Livesey’s house. 


CHAPTER VI 

THE captain’s PAPERS 

We rode hard all the way, till we drew up before 
Doctor Livesey’s door. The house was all dark in 
front. 


TREASURE ISLAND 




Mr. Dance told me to jump down and knock, and 
Dogger gave me a stirrup to descend by. The door 
was opened almost at once by the maid. 

“Is Doctor Livesey in?” I asked. 

“No,” she said. He had come home in the after- 
noon, but had gone up to the Hall to dine and pass 
the evening with the squire. 

“So there we go, boys,” said Mr. Dance. 

This time, as the distance was short, I did not 
mount, but ran with Dogger’s stirrup-leather to the 
lodge gates, and up the long, leafless, moonlit avenue 
to where the white line of the Hall buildings looked 
on either hand on great old gardens. Here Mr. 
Dance dismounted, and taking me along with him, 
was admitted at a word into the house. 

The servant led us down a matted passage, and 
showed us at the end into a great library, all lined 
with bookcases and busts upon top of them, where 
the squire and Doctor Livesey sat, pipe in hand, on 
either side of the bright fire. 

I had never seen the squire so near at hand. He 
was a tall man, over six feet high, and broad in pro- 
portion, and he had a bluff, rough-and-ready face, 
all roughened and reddened and lined in his long 
travels. His eyebrows were very black, and moved 
readily, and this gave him a look of some temper, not 
bad, you would say, but quick and high. 

“Come in, Mr. Dance,” said he, very stately and 
condescending. 

“Good-evening, Dance,” said the doctor, with a 
nod. “And good-evening to you, friend Jim. What 
good wind brings you here?” 

The supervisor stood up straight and stiff, and 
told his story like a lesson; and you should have 
seen how the two gentlemen leaned forward and look- 
ed at each other, and forgot to smoke in their sur- 
prise and interest. When they heard how my mother 
went back to the inn. Doctor Livesey fairly slapped 
his thigh, and the squire cried “Bravo!” and broke 


TREASURE ISLAND 


J^5 


his long pipe against the grate. Long before it was 
done, Mr. Trelawney (that, you will remember, was 
the squire’s name) had got up from his seat, and was 
striding about the room, and the doctor, as if to hear 
the better, had taken off his powdered wig, and sat 
there, looking very strange indeed with his own close- 
cropped, black poll. 

At last Mr. Dance finished the story. 

“Mr. Dance,” said the squire, “you are a very noble 
fellow. And as for riding down that black, atrocious 
miscreant, I regard it as an act of virtue, sir, like 
stamping on a cockroach. This lad Hawkins is a 
trump, I perceive. Hawkins, will you ring that bell ? 
Mr. Dance must have some ale.” 

“And so, Jim,” said the doctor, “you have the thing 
that they were after, have you?” 

“Here it is, sir,” said I, and gave him the oilskin 
packet. 

The doctor looked it all over, as if his fingers were 
itching to open it ; but, instead of doing that, he put 
it quietly in the pocket of his coat. 

“Squire,” said he, “when Dance has had his ale he 
must, of course, be off on his majesty’s service; but I 
mean to keep Jim Hawkins here to sleep at my 
house, and, with your permission, I propose we should 
have up the cold pie, and let him sup.” 

“As you will, Livesey,” said the squire; “Hawkins 
has earned better than cold pie.” 

So a big pigeon pie was brought in and put on a 
side-table, and I made a hearty supper, for I was as 
hungry as a hawk, while Mr. Dance was further com- 
plimented, and at last dismissed. 

“And now, squire,” said the doctor. 

“And now, Livesey,” said the squire, in the same 
breath. 

“One at a time, one at a time,” laughed Doctor 
Livesey. “You have heard of this Flint, I suppose?” 

“Heard of him!” cried the squire. “Heard of 
him, you say! He was the blood-thirstiest buccaneer 


TREASURE ISLAND 


46 

that sailed, Blackbeard^ was a child to Flint. The 
Spaniards were so prodigiously afraid of him that, I 
tell you, sir, I was sometimes proud I was an English- 
man. I’ve seen his topsails with these eyes, off Trini- 
dad, and the cowardly son of a rum-puncheon that I 
sailed with put back — put back, sir, into Port of 
Spain.” 

“Well, I’ve heard of him myself, in England,” said 
the doctor. “But the point is, had he money?” 

“Money!” cried the squire. “Have you heard the 
story? What were these villains after but money? 
What do they care for but money? For what would 
they risk their rascal carcasses but money?” 

“That we shall soon know,” replied the doctor. 
“But you are so confoundedly hot-headed and ex- 
clamatory that I cannot get a word in. What I want 
to know is this: Supposing that I have here in my 
pocket some clew to where Flint buried his treasure, 
will that treasure amount to much?” 

“Amount, sir!” cried the squire. “It will amount 
to this: If we have the clew you talk about, Iifit out 
a ship in Bristol dock, and take you and Hawkins 
here along, and I’ll have that treasure if I search a 
year.” 

“Very well,” said the doctor. “Now, then, if Jim 
is agreeable, we’ll open the packet,” and he laid 
it before him on the table. 

The bundle was sewn together, and the doctor had 
to get out his instrument case and cut the stitches 
with his medical scissors. It contained two things — 
a book and a sealed paper. 

“First of all we’ll try the book,” observed the 
doctor. 

The squire and I were both peering over his 
shoulder as he opened it, for Doctor Livesey had 
kindly motioned me to come round from the side- 
table, where I had been eating, to enjoy the sport of 
the search. On the first page there were only some 
scraps of writing, such as a man with a pen in his 


TREASURE ISLAND 


h7 

hand might make for idleness or practice., One was 
the same as the tattoo mark, “Billy Bones his fancy”; 
then there was “Mr. W. Bones, mate,” “No more 
rum,” “Off Palm Key he got itt,” and some other 
snatches, mostly single words and unintelligible, I 
could not help wondering who it was that had “got 
itt,” and what “itt” was that he got. A knife in 
his back as like as not. 

“Not much instruction there,” said Doctor Livesey, 
as he passed on. 

The next ten or twelve pages were filled with a 
curious series of entries. There was a date at one 
end of the line and at the other a sum of money, as 
in common account-books; but instead of explana- 
tory writing, only a varying number of crosses be- 
tween the two. On the 12th of June, 1745, for in- 
stance, a sum of seventy pounds had plainly become 
due to someone, and there was nothing but six 
crosses to explain the cause. In a few cases, to be 
sure, the name of a place would be added, as “Offe 
Caraccas”; or a mere entry of latitude and longi- 
tude, as “62 deg. 17 min. 20 sec., 19 deg. 2 min. 40 
sec.” 

The record lasted over nearly twenty years, the 
amount of the separate entries growing larger as 
time went on, and at the end a grand total had been 
made out, after five or six wrong additions, and these 
words appended, “Bones his pile.” 

“I can’t make head or tail of this,” said Doctor 
Livesey. • 

“The thing is as clear as noonday,” cried the 
squire. “This is the black-hearted hound’s account- 
book. These crosses stand for thq names of ships 
or towns that they sunk or plundered. The sums are 
the scoundrel’s share, and where he feared an am- 
biguity, you see he added something clearer. ‘Offe 
Caraccas,’ now you see here was some unhappy vessel 
boarded off that coast. God help the poor souls that 
manned her — coral long ago.” 


TREASURE ISLAND 


i8 

“Right!” said the doctor. “See what it is to be a 
traveler. Right! And the amounts increase, you 
see, as he rose in rank.” 

There was little else in the volume but a few bear- 
ings of places noted in the blank leaves toward the 
end, and a table for reducing French, English, and 
Spanish moneys to a common value. 

“Thrifty man!” cried the doctor. “He wasn’t the 
one to be cheated.” 

“And now,” said the squire, “for the other.” 

The paper had been sealed in several places with a 
thimble by way of seal ; the very thimble, perhaps, 
that I had found in the captain’s pocket. The doctor 
opened the seals with great care, and there fell out 
the map of an island, with latitude and longitude, 
soundings, names of hills and bays and inlets, and 
every particular that would be needed to bring a ship 
to a safe anchorage upon its shores. It was about 
nine miles long and five across, shaped, you might 
say, like a fat dragon standing up, and had two fine 
land-locked harbors, and a hill in the center part 
marked “The Spy-glass.” There were several addi- 
tions of a later date ; but, above all, three crosses of 
red ink — two on the north part of the island, one in 
the southwest, and, beside this last, in the same red 
ink, and in a small, neat hand, very different from 
the captain’s tottery characters, these words : “Bulk 
of treasure here.” 

Over on the back the same hand had written this 
further information : 

“Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the 
N. of N. N. E. 

“Skeleton Islarfd E. S. E. and by E. 

“Ten feet. 

“The bar silver is in the north cache you can find it 
by the trend of the east hummock, ten fathoms south of 
the black crag with the face on it. 

“The arms are easy found, in the sandhill, N. point 
of north inlet cape, bearing E» and a quarter N. 

“J. F.” 


TREASURE ISLAND 


J^9 

That was all, but brief as it was, and, to me, in- 
comprehensible, it filled the squire and Doctor Live- 
sey with delight. 

“Livesey,” said the squire, “you will give up this 
wretched practice at once. To-morrow I start for 
Bristol. In three weeks’ time — three weeks! — two 
weeks — ten days — we’ll have the best ship, sir, and 
the choicest crew in England. Hawkins shall come 
as cabin-boy. You’ll make a famous cabin-boy, Haw- 
kins. You, Livesey, are ship’s doctor; I am admiral. 
We’ll take Redruth, Joyce, and Hunter. We’ll have 
favorable winds and a quick passage, and not the 
least difficulty in finding the spot, and money to eat — 
to roll in — to play duck and drake with ever after.” 

“Trelawney,” said the doctor, “I’ll go with you; 
and. I’ll go bail for it, so will Jim, and be a credit to 
the undertaking. There’s only one man I’m afraid 
of.” 

“And who is that?” cried the squire. “Name the 
dog, sir!” 

“You,” replied the doctor, “for you cannot hold 
your tongue. We are not the only men who know 
of this paper. These fellows who attacked the inn 
to-night — bold, desperate blades,^ for sure — and the 
rest who stayed aboard that lugger, and more, I dare 
say, not far off, are, one and all, through thick and 
thin, bound that they’ll get that money. We must 
none of us go alone till we get to sea. Jim and I 
shall stick together in the meanwhile; you’ll take 
Joyce and Hunter when you ride to Bristol, and, 
from first to last, not one of us must breathe a word 
of what we’ve found.” 

“Livesey,” returned the squire, “you are always 
in the right of it. I’ll be as silent as the grave.” 


PART II 

THE SEA COOK 


CHAPTER VII 
I GO TO BRISTOL 

It was longer than the squire imagined ere we 
were ready for the sea, and none of our first plans — 
not even Doctor Livesey’s, of keeping me beside him 
— could be carried out as we intended. The doctor 
had to go to London for a physician to take charge of 
his practice ; the squire was hard at work at Bristol ; 
and I lived on at the Hall under the charge of old 
Redruth, the gamekeeper, almost a prisoner, but full 
of sea-dreams and the most charming anticipations 
of strange islands and adventures. I brooded by the 
hour together over the map, all the details of which 
I well remembered. Sitting by the fire in the house- 
keeper’s room, I approached that island, in my fancy, 
from every possible direction ; I explored every acre 
of its surface; I climbed a thousand times to that 
tall hill they call the Spy-glass, and from the top 
enjoyed the most wonderful and changing prospects. 
Sometimes the isle was thick with savages, with 
whom we fought; sometimes full of dangerous ani- 
mals that hunted us; but in all my fancies nothing 
occurred to me so strange and tragic as our actual 
adventures. 

So the weeks passed on, till one fine day there 
came a letter addressed to Doctor Livesey, with this 
addition, “To be opened in the case of his absence, 
by Tom Redruth or Young Hawkins.” Obeying this 
order, we found, or rather I found — for the game- 


TREASURE ISLAND 


51 


keeper was a poor hand at reading anything but 
print — the following important news : 

“Old Anchor Inn Bristol, March 1, 17 — . 

“Dear Livesey: As I do not know whether you are 
at the Hall or still in London, I send this in double to 
both places. 

“The ship is bought and fitted. She lies at anchor, . 
ready for sea. You never imagined a sweeter schooner — 
a child might sail her — two hundred tons; name, His- 
paniola. 

“I got her through my old friend. Blandly, who has 
proved himself throughout the most surprising trump. 
The admirable fellow literally slaved in my interest, and 
so, I may say, did everyone in Bristol, as soon as they got 
wind of the port we sailed for — treasure, I mean ” 

“Redruth,” said I, interrupting the letter, “Doctor 
Livesey will not like that. The squire has been talk- 
ing, after all.” 

“Well, who’s got a better right?” growled the 
gamekeeper. “A pretty rum go^ if squire ain’t to 
talk for Doctor Livesey, I should think.” 

At that I gave up all attempt at commentary, and 
read straight on : 

“Blandly himself found the Hispaniola, and by the most 
admirable management got her for the merest trifle. 
There is a class of men in Bristol monstrously prejudiced 
against Blandly. They go the length of declaring that 
this honest creature would do anything for money; that 
the Hispaniola belonged to him, and that he sold it to me 
absurdly high — the most transparent calumnies. None of 
them dare, however, to deny the merits of the ship. 

“So far there was not a hitch. The workpeople, to be 
sure — riggers and what not — were most annoyingly slow, 
but time cured that. It was the crew that troubled me. 

“I wished a round score of men — in case of natives, buc- 
caneers, or the odious French — and I had the worry of the 
deuce itself to find so much as half a dozen, till the most 
remarkable stroke of fortune brought me the very man 
that I required. 

“I was standing on the dock, when, by the merest ac- 
cident, I fell in talk with him. I found he was an old sail- 


52 


TREASURE ISLAND 


or, kept a public house, knew all the seafaring men in 
Bristol, had lost his health ashore, and wanted a good 
berth as cook to get to sea again. He had hobbled down 
there that morning, he said, to get a smell of the salt. 

“I was monstrously touched — so would you have been — 
and, out of pure pity, I engaged him on the spot to be 
ship’s cook. Long John Silver, he is called, and has lost a 
leg; but that I regarded as a recommendation, since he 
lost it in his country’s service, under the immortal Hawke. ^ 
He has no pension, Livesey. Imagine the abominable age 
we live in! 

“Well, sir, I thought I had only found a cook, but it was 
a crew I had discovered. Between Silver and myself we 
got together in a few days a company of the toughest old 
salts imaginable — not pretty to look at, but fellows, by 
their faces, of the most indomitable spirit. I declare we 
could fight a frigate. 

“Long John even got rid of two out of the six or seven 
I had already engaged. He showed me in a moment that 
they were just the sort of fresh-water swabs we had to 
fear in an adventure of importance. 

“I am in the most magnificent health and spirits, eat- 
ing like a bull, sleeping like a tree, yet I shall not enjoy a 
moment till I hear my old tarpaulins^ tramping around 
the capstan. Seaward ho! Hang the treasure! It’s the 
glory of the sea that has turned my head. So now, Live- 
sey, come post;3 do not lose an hour, if you respect me. 

“Let young Hawkins go at once to see his mother, with 
Redruth for a. guard, and then both come full speed to 
Bristol. John Trelawney. 

“P. S. — I did not tell you that Blandly, who by the way, 
is to send a consort after us if we don’t turn up by the end 
of August, had found an admirable fellow for sailing- 
master — a stiff man, which I regret, but, in all other re- 
spects, a treasure. Long John Silver unearthed a very 
competent man for a mate, a man named Arrow. I have 
a boatswain who pipes, Livesey ; so things shall go man-o’- 
war fashion on board the good ship Hispaniola. 

“I forgot to tell you that Silver is a man of substance; 
I know of my own knowledge that he has a banker’s ac- 
count, which has never been overdrawn. He leaves his 
wife to manage the inn; and as she is a woman of color, a 
pair of old bachelors like you and I may be excused for 
guessing that it is the wife, quite as much as the health, 
that sends him back to roving. J. T. 

“P. P. S. — Hawkins may stay one night with his 
mother. * j. T.” 


TREASURE ISLAND 


5S 


You can fancy the excitement into which that let- 
ter put me. I was half beside myself with glee, and 
if ever I despised a man, it was old Tom Redruth, who 
could do nothing but grumble and lament. Any of 
the under-gamekeepers would gladly have changed 
places with him ; but such was not the squire’s pleas- 
ure, and the squire’s pleasure was like law among 
them all. Nobody but old Redruth would have dared 
so much as even to grumble. 

The next morning he and I set out on foot for the 
Admiral Benbow, and there I found my mother in 
good health and spirits. The captain, who had so 
long been a cause of so much discomfort, was gone 
where the wicked cease from troubling. The squire 
had had everything repaired, and the public rooms 
and the sign repainted, and had added some furni- 
ture — above all a beautiful armchair for mother in 
the bar. He had found her a boy as an apprentice 
also, so that she should not want help while I was 
gone. 

It was on seeing that boy that I understood, for 
the first time, my situation. I had thought up to 
that moment of the adventures before me, not at all 
of the home that I was leaving; and now at sight 
of this clumsy stranger, who was to stay here in my 
place beside my mother, I had my first attack of tears. 
I am afraid I led that boy a dog’s life; for as he 
was new to the work, I had a hundred opportunities 
of setting him right and putting him down, and I was 
not slow to profit by them. 

The night passed, and the next day, after dinner, 
Redruth and I were afoot again and on the road. I 
said good-by to mother and the cove where I had 
lived since I was born, and the dear old Admiral 
Benbow — since he was repainted, no longer quite so 
dear. One of my first thoughts was of the captain, 
who had so often strode along the beach with his 
cocked hat, his saber-cut cheek, and his old brass 


TREASURE ISLAND 


5J, 

telescope. Next moment we had turned the corner, 
and my home was out of sight. 

The mail picked us up about dusk at the Royal 
George on the heath. I was wedged in between 
Redruth and a stout old gentleman, and in spite of 
the swift motion and the cold night air, I must have 
dozed a great deal from the very first, and then slept 
like a log up hill and down dale, through stage after 
stage ; for when I was awakened at last, it was by a 
punch in the ribs, and I opened my eyes to find that 
we were standing still before a large building in a 
city street, and that the day had already broken a 
long time. 

“Where are we?” I asked. 

“Bristol,” said Tom. “Get down.” 

Mr. Trelawney had taken up his residence at an 
inn far down the docks, to superintend the work upon 
the schooner. Thither we had now to walk, and our 
way, to my great delight, lay along the quays and be- 
side the great multitude of ships of all sizes and rigs 
and nations. In one, sailors were singing at their 
work ; in another, there were men aloft, high over my 
head, hanging to threads that seemed no thicker than 
a spider’s. Though I had lived by the shore all my 
life, I seemed never to have been near the sea till 
then. The smell of tar and salt was something new. I 
saw the most wonderful figureheads^ that had all 
been far over the ocean. I saw, besides, many old 
sailors, with rings in their ears, and whiskers curled 
in ringlets, and tarry pig-tails, and their swaggering, 
clumsy sea-walk; and if I had seen as many kings 
or archbishops I could not have been more delighted. 

And I was going to sea myself; to sea in a 
schooner, with a piping boatswain, and pig-tailed 
singing seamen; to sea, bound for an unknown is- 
land, and to seek for buried treasure. 

While I was still in this delightful dream, we came 
suddenly in front of a large inn, and met Squire 
Trelawney, all dressed out like a sea officer, in stout 


TREASURE ISLAND 


55 


blue cloth, coming out of the door with a smile on his 
face, and a capital imitation of a sailor’s walk. 

“Here you are!” he cried; “and the doctor came 
last night from London. Bravo! — the ship’s com- 
pany complete.” 

“Oh, sir,” cried I, “when do we sail?” 

“Sail !” says he. “We sail to-morrow.” 


CHAPTER VIII 

AT THE SIGN OF THE SPY-GLASS 

When I had done breakfasting, the squire gave me 
a note addressed to John Silver, at the sign of the 
Spy-glass, and told me I should easily find the place 
by following the line of the docks, and keeping a 
bright lookout for a little tavern with a large brass 
telescope for a sign. I set off, overjoyed at this oppor- 
tunity to see some more of the ships and seamen, and 
picked my way among a great crowd of people and 
carts and bales, for the dock was now at its busiest, 
until I found the tavern in question. 

It was a bright enough little place of entertain- 
ment. The sign was newly painted; the windows 
had neat red curtains ; the floor was cleanly sanded. 
There was a street on either side, and an open door on 
both, which made the large, low room pretty clear to 
see in, in spite of clouds of tobacco smoke. 

The customers were mostly seafaring men, and 
they talked so loudly that I hung at the door, almost 
afraid to enter. 

As I was waiting, a man came out of a side room, 
and at a glance I was sure he must be Long John. 
His left leg was cut off close by the hip, and under 
the left shoulder he carried a crutch, which he man- 
aged with wonderful dexterity, hopping about upon 
it like a bird. He was very tall and strong, with a 
face as big as a ham — plain and pale, but intelligent 


56 


TREASURE ISLAND 


and smiling. Indeed, he seemed in the most cheer- 
ful spirits, whistling as he moved about among the 
tables, with a merry word or a slap on the shoulder 
for the more favored of his guests. 

Now, to tell you the truth, from the very first men- 
tion of Long John in Squire Trelawney’s letter, I had 
taken a fear in my mind that he might prove to be 
the very one-legged sailor whom I had watched for 
so long at the old Benbow. But one look at the man 
before me was enough- I had seen the captain, and 
Black Dog, and the blind man Pew, and I thought I 
knew what a buccaneer was like — a very different 
creature, according to me, from this clean and pleas- 
ant-tempered landlord. 

I plucked up courage at once, crossed the thresh- 
old, and walked right up to the man where he stood, 
propped on his crutch, talking to a customer. 

“Mr. Silver, sir?” I asked, holding out the note. 

“Yes, my lad,” said he; “such is my name, to be 
sure. And who may you be?” And when he saw 
the squire’s letter he seemed to me to give something 
almost like a start. 

“Oh!” said he, quite aloud, and offering his hand, 
“I see. You are our new cabin-boy; pleased I am to 
see you.” 

And he took my hand in his large firm grasp. 

Just then one of the customers at the far side rose 
suddenly and made for the door. It was close by him, 
and he was out in the street in a moment. But his 
hurry had attracted my notice, and I recognized him 
at a glance. It was the tallow-faced man, wanting 
two fingers, who had come first to the Admiral Ben- 
bow. 

“Oh,” I cried, “stop him! it’s Black Dog!” 

“I don’t care two coppers who he is,” cried Silver, 
“but he hasn’t paid his score. Harry, run and catch 
him.” 

One of the others who was nearest the door leaped 
up and started in pursuit. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


57 


“If he were Admiral Hawke he shall pay his score,” 
cried Silver; and then, relinquishing my hand, “Who 
did you say he was?” he asked. “Black what?” 

“Dog, sir,” said I. “Has Mr. Trelawney not told 
you of the buccaneers? He was one of them.” 

“So?” cried Silver. “In my house! Ben, run and 
help Harry. One of those swabs, was he? Was that 
you drinking with him, Morgan? Step up here.” 

The man whom he called Morgan — an old, gray- 
haired, mahogany-faced sailor — came forward pretty 
sheepishly, rolling his quid. 

“Now, Morgan,” said Long John, very sternly, 
“you never clapped your eyes on that Black — Black 
Dog before, did you, now?” 

“Not I, sir,” said Morgan, with a salute. 

“You didn’t know his name, did you?” 

“No, sir.” 

“By the powers, Tom Morgan, it’s as good for 
you!” exclaimed the landlord. “If you had been 
mixed up with the like of that, you would never have 
put another foot in my house, you may lay to that.^ 
And what was he saying to you ?” 

“I don’t rightly know, sir,” answered Morgan. 

“Do you call that a head on your shoulders, or a 
blessed dead-eye ?”2 cried Long John. “Don’t 
rightly know, don’t you ? Perhaps you don’t happen 
to rightly know who you was speaking to, perhaps? 
Come now, what was he jawing — v’yges, cap’ns, 
ships? Pipe up. What was it?” 

“We was a-talkin’ of keel-hauling,”® answered 
Morgan. 

“Keel-hauling, was you? and a mighty suitable 
thing, too, and you may lay to that. Get back to 
your place for a lubber, Tom.” 

And then, as Morgan rolled back to his seat. Silver 
added to me, in a confidential whisper, that was very 
flattering, as I thought: 

“He’s quite an honest man, Tom Morgan, on’y 
stupid. And now,” he ran on again, aloud, “let’s 


58 


TREASURE ISLAND 


see — Black Dog? No, I don’t know the name, not 
I. Yet I kind of think I’ve — yes, I’ve seen the swab. 
He used to come here with a blind beggar, he used.” 

“That he did, you may be sure,” said 1. “I knew 
that blind man, too. His name was Pew.” 

“It was!” cried Silver, now quite excited. “Pew! 
That were his name for certain. Ah, he looked a 
shark, he did! If we run down this Black Dog now, 
there’ll be news for Cap’n Trelawney! Ben’s a good 
runner; few seamen run better than Ben. He should 
run him down, hand over hand, by the powers! He 
talked o’ keel-hauling, did he? Ell keel-haul him!” 

All the time he was jerking out these phrases he 
was stumping up and down the tavern on his crutch, 
slapping tables with his hand, and giving such a show 
of excitement as would have convinced an Old Bailey^ 
judge or a Bow Street runner.- My suspicions had 
been thoroughly reawakened on finding Black Dog 
at the Spy-glass, and I watched the cook narrowly. 
But he was too deep, and too ready, and too clever 
for me, and by the time the two men had come back 
out of breath, and confessed that they had lost the 
track in a crowd, and been scolded like thieves, I 
would have gone bail for the innocence of Long John 
Silver. 

“See here, now, Hawkins,” said he, “here’s a 
blessed hard thing on a man like me, now, ain’t it? 
There’s Cap’n Trelawney — what’s he to think? 
Here I have this confounded son of a Dutchman sit- 
ting in my own house, drinking of my own rum! 
Here you. comes and tells me of it plain; and here I 
let him give us all the slip before my blessed dead- 
lights 1® Now, Hawkins, you do me justice with the 
cap’n. You’re a lad, you are, but you’re as smart 
as paint. I see that when you first came in. Now, 
here it is: What could I do, with this old timber I 
hobble on? When I was an A B master mariner I’d 
have come up alongside of him, hand over hand, and 
broached him to^ in a brace of old shakes, I would; 
and now ” 


TREASURE ISLAND 


59 


And then, all of a sudden, he stopped, and his jaw 
dropped as though he had remembered something. 

“The score!” he burst out. “Three goes o’ rum! 
Why, shiver my timbers, if I hadn’t forgotten my 
score!” 

And, falling on a bench, he laughed until the tears 
ran down his cheeks, I could not help joining, and we 
laughed together, peal after peal, until the tavern 
rang again. 

“Why, what a precious old sea-calf I am!” he said, 
at last, wiping his cheeks. “You and me. should get on 
well, Hawkins, for I’ll take my davy^ I should be 
rated ship’s boy. But, come, now, stand by to go 
about.- This won’t do. Booty is dooty, messmates. 
I’ll put on my old cocked hat and step along of you 
to Cap’n Trelawney, and report this here affair. 
For, mind you, it’s serious, young Hawkins; and 
neither you nor me’s come out of it with what I 
should make so bold as to call credit. Nor you neith- 
er, says you; not smart — none of the pair of us 
smart. But dash my buttons! that was a good ’un 
about my score.” 

And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, 
that though I did not see the joke as he did, I was 
again obliged to join him in his mirth. 

On our little walk along the quays he made him- 
self the most interesting companion, telling me about 
the different ships that we passed by, their rig, ton- 
nage, and nationality, explaining the work that was 
going forward — how one was discharging, another 
taking in cargo, and a third making ready for sea; 
and every now and then telling me some little anec- 
dote of ships or seamen, or repeating a nautical 
phrase till I had learned it perfectly. I began to see 
that here was one of the best of possible shipmates. 

When we got to the inn, the squire and Doctor 
Livesey were seated together, finishing a quart of ale 
with a toast in it, before they should go aboard the 
schooner on a visit of inspection. 


60 


TREASURE ISLAND 


Long John told the story from first to last, with 
a great deal of spirit and the most perfect truth. 
“That was how it were, now, weren’t it, Hawkins?” 
he would say, now and again, and I could always 
bear him entirely out. 

The two gentlemen regretted that Black Dog had 
got away, but we all agreed there was nothing to be 
done, and after he had been complimented. Long 
John took up his crutch and departed. 

“All hands aboard by four this afternoon !” shouted 
the squire after him. 

“Aye, aye, sir,” cried the cook in the passage. 

“Well, squire,” said Doctor Livesey, “I don’t put 
much faith in your discoveries, as a general thing, 
but I will say this — John Silver suits me.” 

“That man’s a perfect trump,” declared the squire. 

“And now,” added the doctor, “Jim may come on 
board with us, may he not?” 

“To be sure he may,” said the squire. “Take your 
hat, Hawkins, and we’ll see the ship.” 


CHAPTER IX 
POWDER AND ARMS 

The Hispaniola lay some way out, and we went 
under the figureheads and around the sterns of many 
other ships, and their cables sometimes grated be- 
neath our keel, and sometimes swung above us. At 
last, however, we swung alongside, and were met and 
saluted as we stepped aboard by the mate, Mr. Arrow, 
a brown old sailor, with earrings in his ears and a 
squint. He and the squire were very thick and 
friendly, but I soon observed that things were not 
the same between Mr. Trelawney and the captain. 

This last was a sharp-looking man, 'who seemed 
angry with everything on board, and was soon to tell 
us why, for we had hardly got down into the cabin 
when a sailor followed us. 


TREASURE ISLAND 61 

“Captain Smollett, sir, axing to speak with you," 
said he. 

“I am always at the captain’s orders. Show him 
in,” said the squire. 

The captain, who was close behind his messenger, 
entered at once, and shut the door behind him. 

“Well, sir,” said the captain, “better speak plain, 
I believe, at the risk of offense. I don’t like this 
cruise; I don’t like the men; and I don’t like my 
officer. That’s short and sweet.” 

“Perhaps, sir, you don’t like the ship?” inquired 
the squire, very angry, as I could see. 

“I can’t speak as to that, sir, not having seen her 
tried,” said the captain. “She seems a clever craft; 
more I can’t say.” 

“Possibly, sir, you may not like your employer, 
either?” said the squire. 

But here Doctor Livesey cut in. 

“Stay a bit,” said he, “stay a bit. No use of such 
questions as that but to produce ill-feeling. The 
captain has said too much or he has said too little, 
and I’m bound to say that I require an explanation 
of his words. You don’t, you say, like this cruise. 
Now, why?” 

“I was engaged, sir, on what we call sealed orders, 
to sail this ship for that gentleman where he should 
bid me,” said the captain. “So far so good. But 
now I find that every man before the mast knows 
more than I do. I don’t call that fair, now, do you ?” 

“No,” said Doctor Livesey, “I don’t.” 

“Next,” said the captain, “ I learn we are going 
after treasure — hear it from my own hands, mind 
you. Now, treasure is ticklish work; I don’t like 
treasure voyages on any account; and I don’t like 
them, above all, when they are secret, and when 
(begging your pardon, Mr. Trelawney) the secret 
has been told to the parrot.” 

“Silver’s parrot?” asked the squire. 

“It’s a way of speaking,” said the captain. 


S2 


TREASURE ISLAND 


"‘Blabbed, I mean. It’s my belief neither of you 
gentlemen know what you are about; but I’ll tell you 
my way of it — life or death, and a close run.” 

“That is all clear, and, I dare say, true enough,” 
replied Doctor Livesey. “We take the risk, but we 
are not so ignorant as you believe us. Next, you say 
you don’t like the crew. Are they not good seamen?” 

“I don’t like them, sir,” returned Captain Smol- 
lett. “And I think I should have had the choosing 
of my own hands, if you go to that.” 

“Perhaps you should,” replied the doctor. “My 
friend should, perhaps, have taken you along with 
him; but the slight, if there be one, was uninten- 
tional. And you don’t like Mr. Arrow?” 

“I don’t, sir. I believe he’s a good seaman, but 
he’s too free with the crew to be a good officer. A 
mate should keep himself to himself — shouldn’t drink 
with the men before the mast.” 

“Do you mean he drinks?” cried the squire. 

“No, sir,” replied the captain; “only that he’s too 
familiar.” 

“Well, now, and the short and long of it, cap- 
tain?” asked the doctor. “Tell us what you want.” 

“Well, gentlemen, are you determined to go on this 
cruise?” 

“Like iron,” answered the squire. 

“Very good,” said the captain. “Then, as you’ve 
heard me very patiently, saying things that I could 
not prove, hear me a few words more. They are 
putting the powder and the arms in the fore-hold. 
Now, you have a good place under the cabin; why 
not put them there? — first point. Then you are 
bringing four of your own people with you, and 
they tell me some of them are to be berthed forward. 
Why not give them the berths here beside the cabin? 
— second point.” 

“Any more?” asked Mr. Trelawney. 

“One more,” said the captain. “There’s been too 
much blabbing already.” 


TREASURE ISLAND 


63 


“Far too much,” agreed the doctor. 

“I’ll tell you what I’ve heard myself,” continued 
Captain Smollett; “that you have a map of an is- 
land ; that there’s crosses on the map to show where 

treasure is ; and that the island lies ” And then 

he named the latitude and longitude exactly. 

“I never told that,” cried the squire, “to a soul.” 

“The hands know it, sir,” returned the captain. 

“Livesey, that must have been you or Hawkins,” 
cried the squire. 

“It doesn’t much matter who it was,” replied the 
doctor. And I could see that neither he nor the 
captain paid much regard to Mr. Trelawney’s protes- 
tations. Neither did I, to be sure, he was so loose 
a talker; yet in this case I believe he was really 
right, and that nobody had told the situation of the 
island. 

“Well, gentlemen,” continued the captain, “I don’t 
know who has this map, but I make it a point it shall 
be kept secret even from me and Mr. Arrow. Other- 
wise I would ask you to let me resign.” 

“I see,” said the doctor. “You wish to keep this 
matter dark, and to make a garrison of the stern 
part of the ship manned with my friend’s own people, 
and provided with all the arms and powder on board. 
In other words, you fear a mutiny.” 

“Sir,” said Captain Smollett, “with no intention to 
take offense, I deny your right to put words into 
my mouth. No captain, sir, would be justified in 
going to sea at all if he had ground enough for that. 
As for Mr. Arrow, I believe him thoroughly honest; 
some of the men are the same; all may be for what 
I know. But I am responsible for the ship’s safety 
and the life of every man Jack^ aboard of her. I see 
things going, as I think, not quite right; and I ask 
you to take certain precautions, or let me resign my 
berth. And that’s all.” 

“Captain Smollett,” began the doctor, with a 
smile, “did ever you hear the fable of the mountain 


TREASURE ISLAND 


6U 

and the mouse? You’ll excuse me, I dare say, but 
you remind me of that fable. When you came in here 
I’ll stake my wig you meant more than this.” 

“Doctor,” said the captain, “you are smart. When 
I came in here I meant to get discharged. I had no 
thought that Mr. Trelawney would hear a word.” 

“No more I would,” cried the squire. “Had Livesey 
not been here I should have seen you to the deuce. 
As it is, I have heard you. I will do as you desire, 
but I think the worse of you.” 

“That’s as you please, sir,” said the captain. 
“You’ll find I do my duty.” 

And with that he took his leave. 

“Trelawney,” said the doctor, “contrary to all 
my notions, I believe you have managed to get two 
honest men on board with you — that man and John 
Silver.” 

“Silver, if you like,” cried the squire, “but as for 
that intolerable humbug, I declare I think his conduct 
unmanly, unsailorly, and downright un-English.” 

“Well,” said the doctor, “we shall see.” 

When we came on deck the men had begun already 
to take out the arms and powder, yo-ho-ing at their 
work, while the captain and Mr. Arrow stood by 
superintending. 

The new arrangement was quite to my liking. 
The whole schooner had been overhauled; six berths 
had been made astern, out of what had been the after- 
part of the main hold, and this set of cabins was only 
joined to the galley^ and forecastle^ by a sparred 
passage on the port side. It had been originally 
meant that the captain, Mr. Arrow, Hunter, Joyce, 
the doctor, and the squire were to occupy these six 
berths. Now Redruth and I were to get two of them, 
and Mr. Arrow and the captain were to sleep on deck 
in the companion,"* which had been enlarged on each 
side till you might almost have called it a round- 
house. Very low it was still, of course, but there was 
room to swing two hammocks, and even the mate 


TREASURE ISLAND 


65 


seemed pleased with the arrangement. Even he, per- 
haps, had been doubtful as to the crew, but that is 
only guess, for, as you shall hear, we had not long 
the benefit of his opinion. 

We were all hard at work changing the powder 
and the berths, when the last man or two, and Long 
John along with them, came off in a shore-boat. 

The cook came up the side like a monkey for clever- 
ness, and, as soon as he saw what was doing, “So ho, 
mates!” said he, “what’s this!” 

“We’re a-changing the powder. Jack,” answered 
one. 

“Why, by the powers,” cried Long John, “if we do, 
we’ll miss the morning tide!” 

“My orders!” said the captain, shortly. “You 
may go below, my man. Hands will want supper.” 

“Aye, aye, sir,” answered the cook; and, touching 
his forelock, he disappeared at once in the direction 
of his galley. 

“That’s a good man, captain,” said the doctor. 

“Very likely, sir,” replied Captain Smollett. 
“Easy with that, men — easy,” he ran on, to the fel- 
lows who were shifting the powder; and then sud- 
denly observing me examining the swivel we carried 
amidships, a long brass nine — “Here, you ship’s 
boy,” he cried, “out o’ that! Off with you to the cook 
and get some work.” 

And then as I was hurrying off I heard him say, 
quite loudly, to the doctor: “I’ll have no favorites 
on my ship.” 

I assure you I was quite of the squire’s way of 
thinking, and hated the captain deeply. 



SCENE FROM PHOTOPLAY **TBEA3URE ISLANJ^" Courtesy of Paramount Picture^ 






TREASURE ISLAND 


67 


CHAPTER X 

THE VOYAGE 

All that night we were in a great bustle getting 
things stowed in their place, and boatfuls of the 
squire’s friends, Mr. Blandly and the like, coming 
off to wish him a good voyage and a safe return. 
We never had a night at the Admiral Benbow when 
I had half the work; and I was dog-tired when, a 
little before dawn, the boatswain sounded his pipe, 
and the crew began to man the capstan bars. I might 
have been twice as weary, yet I would not have left 
the deck, all was so new and interesting to me — the 
brief commands, the shrill notes of the whistle, the 
men bustling to their places in the glimmer of the 
ship’s lanterns. 

“Now, Barbecue, tip us a stave,”^ cried one voice. 

“The old one,” cried another. 

“Aye, aye, mates,” said Long John, who was stand- 
ing by, with his crutch under his arm, and at once 
broke out in the air and words I knew so well : 

Fifteen men on the dead man's chest ” — 

And then the whole crew bore chorus : 

“Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!” 

And at the third “ho!” drove the bars before 
them with a will. 

Even at that exciting moment it carried me back 
to the old Admiral Benbow in a second, and I seemed 
to hear the voice of the captain piping in the chorus. 
But soon the anchor was short up; soon it was hang- 
ing dripping at the bows; soon the sails began to 
draw, and the land and shipping to flit by on either 
side, and before I could lie down to snatch an hour 
of slumber the Hispaniola had begun her voyage to 
the Isle of Treasure. 

I am not going to relate the voyage in detail. It 
was fairly prosperous. The ship proved to be a good 


68 


TREASURE ISLAND 


ship, the crew were capable seamen, and the captain 
thoroughly understood his business. But before we 
came the length of Treasure Island, two or three 
things had happened which require to be known. 

Mr. Arrow, first of all, turned out even worse than 
the captain had feared. He had no command among 
the men, and people did what they pleased with him. 
But that was by no means the worst of it; for after 
a day or two at sea he began to appear on deck with 
hazy eye, red cheeks, stuttering tongue, and other 
marks of drunkenness. Time after time he was or- 
dered below in disgrace. Sometimes he fell and cut 
himself; sometimes he lay all day long in his little 
bunk at one side of the companion ; sometimes for a 
day or two he would be almost sober and attend to 
his work at least passably. 

In the meantime we could never make out where 
he got the drink. That was the ship’s mystery. Watch 
him as we pleased, we could do nothing to solve it, 
and when we asked him to his face, he would only 
laugh, if he were drunk, and if he were sober, deny 
solemnly that he ever tasted anything but water. 

He was not only useless as an officer, and had a 
bad influence among the men, but it was plain that 
at this rate he must soon kill himself outright, so 
nobody was much surprised, nor very sorry, when 
one dark night, with a head sea, he disappeared en- 
tirely and was seen no more. 

“Overboard!” said the captain. “Well, gentle- 
men, that saves the trouble of putting him in irons.” 

But there we were, without a mate, and it was 
necessary, of course, to advance one of the men. 
The boatswain. Job Anderson, was the likeliest man 
aboard, and though he kept his old title, he served 
in a way as mate. Mr. Trelawney had followed the 
sea, and his knowledge made him very useful, for 
he often took a watch himself in easy weather. And 
the cockswain, Israel Hands, was a careful, wily, old. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


69 


experienced seaman, who could be trusted at a pinch 
with almost anything. 

He was a great confidant of Long John Silver, and 
so the mention of his name leads me on to speak of 
our ship’s cook. Barbecue, as the men called him. 

Aboard ship he carried his crutch by a lanyard^ 
round his neck, to have both hands as free as possi- 
ble. It was something to see him wedge the foot of 
the crutch against a bulkhead,^ and, propped against 
it, yielding to every movement of the ship, get on 
with his cooking like someone safe ashore. Still 
more strange was it to soe him in the heaviest of 
weather cross the deck. He had a line or two rigged 
up to help him across the widest spaces — Long John’s 
earrings, they were called — and he would hand him- 
self from one place to another, now using the crutch, 
now trailing it alongside by the lanyard, as quickly 
as another man could walk. Yet some of the men 
who had sailed with him before expressed their pity 
to see him so reduced. 

“He’s no common man. Barbecue,” said the cock- 
swain to me. “He had good schooling in his young 
days, and can speak like a book when so minded; and 
brave — a lion’s nothing alongside of Long John! I 
see him grapple four and knock their heads together 
— him unarmed.” 

All the crew respected and even obeyed him. He 
had a way of talking to each and doing everybody 
some particular service. To me he was unweariedly 
kind, and always glad to see me in the galley, which 
he kept as clean as a new pin; the dishes hanging up 
burnished and his parrot in a cage in the corner. 

“Come away, Hawkins,” he would say; “come and 
have a yarn with John. Nobody more welcome than 
yourself, my son. Sit you down and hear the news. 
Here’s Cap’n Flint — I calls my parrot Cap’n Flint, 
after the famous buccaneer — here’s Cap’n Flint pre- 
dicting success to our v’yage. Wasn’t you, cap’n?” 

And the parrot would say, with great rapidity: 


70 TREASURE ISLAND 

“Pieces of eight! pieces of eight! pieces of eight!” 
till you wondered that it was not out of breath or till 
John threw his handkerchief over the cage. 

“Now, that bird,” he would say, “is, may be, two 
hundred years old, Hawkins— they live forever most- 
ly, and if anybody’s seen more wickedness it must 
be the devil himself. She’s sailed with England — 
the great Cap’n England, the pirate. She’s been at 
Madagascar, and at Malabar, and Surinam, and 
Providence, and Portobello. She was at the fishing 
up of the wrecked plate ships.i It’s there she learned 
‘Pieces of eight,’ and little wonder; three hundred 
and fifty thousand of ’em, Hawkins ! She was at the 
boarding of the ‘Viceroy of the Indies’^ out of Goa, 
she was, and to look at her you would think she was 
a babby. But you smelled powder— didn’t you, 
cap’n?” 

“Stand by to go about,” the parrot would scream. 

“Ah, she’s a handsome craft, she is,” the cook 
would say, and give her sugar from his pocket, and 
then the bird would peck at the bars and swear 
straight on, passing belief for wickedness. “There,” 
John would add, “you can’t touch pitch and not be 
mucked, lad. Here’s this poor old innocent bird of 
mine swearing blue fire and none the wiser, you may 
lay to that. She would swear the same, in a manner 
of speaking, before the chaplain.” And John would 
touch his forelock with a solemn way he had, that 
made me think he was the best of men. 

In the meantime squire and Captain Smollett were 
still on pretty distant terms with one another. The 
squire made no bones about the matter; he despised 
the captain. The captain, on his part, never spoke 
but when he was spoken to, and then sharp and short 
and dry and not a word wasted. He owned, when 
driven into a comer, that he seemed to have been 
wrong about the crew; that some of them were as 
brisk as he wanted to see, and all had behaved fairly 
well. As for the ship, he had taken a downright 


TREASURE ISLAND 


71 


fancy to her. “She’ll lie a point nearer the wind 
than a man has a right to expect of his own married 
wife, sir. But,” he would add, “all I say is, we’re 
not home again and I don’t like the cruise.” 

The squire, at this, would turn away and march 
up and down the deck, chin in air. 

“A trifle more of that man,” he would say, “and 
I should explode.” 

We had some heavy weather, which only proved 
the qualities of the Hispaniola. Every man on 
board seemed well content and they must have been 
hard to please if they had been otherwise, for it is 
my belief there was never a ship’s company so spoiled 
since Noah put to sea. Double grog was going on 
the least excuse; there was duff^ on odd days, as for 
instance, if the squire heard it was any man’s birth- 
day, and always a barrel of apples standing broached 
in the waist,^ for anyone to help himself that had a 
fancy. 

“Never knew good to come of it yet,” the captain 
said to Doctor Livesey. “Spoil fok’s’le hands, make 
devils. That’s my belief.” 

But good did come of the apple barrel, as you shall 
hear, for if it had not been for that we should have 
had no note of warning and might all have perished 
by the hand of treachery. 

This is how it came about. 

We had run up the trades^ to get the wind of the 
island we were after — I am not allowed to be more 
plain — and now we were running down for it with a 
bright lookout day and night. It was about the last 
day of our outward voyage, by the largest computa- 
tion ; some time that night, or, at latest, before noon 
of the morrow, we should sight the Treasure Island. 
We were heading south-southwest, and had a steady 
breeze abeam^ and a quiet sea. The Hispaniola rolled 
steadily, dipping her bowsprit^ now and then with a 
whiff of spray. All was drawing alow and aloft;® 
everyone was in the bravest spirits, because we were 


72 


TREASURE ISLAND 


now so near an end of the first of our adventure. 

Now, just after sundown, when all my work was 
over and I was on my way to my berth, it occurred 
to me that I should like an apple. I ran on deck. 
The watch was all forward looking out for the island. 
The man at the helm was watching the luff^ of the 
sail and whistling away gently to himself, and that 
was the only sound excepting the swish of the sea 
against the bows and around the sides of the ship. 

In I got bodily into the apple barrel, and found 
there was scarce an apple l^ft; but, sitting down 
there in the dark, what with the sound of the waters 
and the rocking movement of the ship, I had either 
fallen asleep, or was on the point of doing so, when a 
heavy man sat down with rather a clash close by. The 
barrel shook as he leaned his shoulders against it, 
and I was just about to jump up when the man be- 
gan to speak. It was Silver’s voice, and, before I 
had heard a dozen words, I would not have shown 
myself for all the world, but lay there, trembling 
and listening, in the extreme of fear and curiosity; 
for from these dozen words I understood that the 
lives of all the honest men aboard depended upon me 
alone. 


CHAPTER XI 

WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE BARREL 

“No, not I,” said Silver. “Flint was cap’n ; I was 
quartermaster, along of^ my timber leg. The same 
broadside I lost my leg, old Pew lost his headlights. ✓- 
It was a master surgeon, him that ampytated me — 
out of college and all — Latin by the bucket, and what 
not; but he was hanged like a dog, and sun-dried 
like the rest, at Corso Castle. That was Roberts’ 
men, that was, and corned of changing names to their 
ships — Royal Fortune and so on. Now, what a ship 
was christened, so let her stay, I says. So it was 


TREASURE ISLAND 


73 


with the Cassandra, as brought us all safe home from 
Malabar, after England took the Viceroy of the 
Indies; so it was with the old Walrus, Flint’s old 
ship, as I’ve seen a-muck with the red blood and lit 
to sink with gold.” 

“Ah!” cried another voice, that of the youngest 
hand on board, and evidently full of admiration, “he 
was the flower of the flock, was Flint!” 

“Davis^ was a man, too, by all accounts,” said Sil- 
ver. “I never sailed along of him; first with England, 
then with Flint, that’s my story; and now here on 
my own account, in a manner of speaking. I laid 
by nine hundred safe, from England, and two thou- 
sand after Flint. That ain’t bad for a man before the 
mast — all safe in bank. ’Tain’t earning now; it’s 
saving does it, you may lay to that. Where’s all 
England’s men now? I dunno. Where’s Flint’s? 
Why, most on ’em aboard here, and glad to get the 
duff — been begging before that, some on ’em. Old 
Pew, as had lost his sight, and might have thought 
shame, spends twelve hundred pounds in a year, like 
a lord in Parliament. Where is he now? Well, he’s 
dead now and under the hatches but for two years 
before that, shiver my timbers ! that man was starv- 
ing. He begged, and he stole, and he cut throats, 
and starved at that, by the powers!” 

“Well, it ain’t much use, after all,” said the young 
seaman. 

“ ’Tain’t much use for fools, you may lay to it — 
that, nor nothing,” cried Silver. “But now, you look 
here; you’re young, you are, but you’re as smart as 
paint. I see that when I set my eyes on you, and I’ll 
talk to you like a man.” 

You can imagine how I felt when I heard this 
abominable old rogue addressing another in the very 
same words of flattery as he had used to myself. I 
think, if I had been able, that I would have killed 
him through the barrel. Meantime he ran on, little 
supposing he was overheard. 


7U TREASURE ISLAND 

“Here it is about gentlemen of fortune. They lives 
rough, and they risk swinging, but they eat and 
drink like fighting-cocks, and when a cruise is done, 
why, it’s hundreds of pounds instead of hundreds of 
farthings in their pockets. Now, the most goes for 
rum and a good fling, and to sea again in their shirts. 
But that’s not the course I lay. I puts it all away, 
some here, some there, and none too much anywheres, 
by reason of suspicion. I’m fifty, mark youj once 
back from this cruise I set up gentleman in earnest. 
Time enough, too, says you. Ah, but I’ve lived easy 
in the meantime; never denied myself o’ nothing 
heart desires, and slept soft and eat dainty all my 
days, but when at sea. And how did I begin? Before 
the mast, like you !” 

“Well,” said the other, “but all the other money’s 
gone now, ain’t it? You daren’t show face in Bristol 
after this.” 

“Why, where might you suppose it was?” asked 
Silver, derisively. 

“At Bristol, in banks and places,” answered his 
companion. 

“It were,” said the cook; “it were when we 
weighed anchor. But my old missis has it all by now. 
And the Spy-glass is sold, lease and good will and rig- 
ging; and the old girl’s off to meet me. I would tell 
you where, for I trust you ; but it ’ud make jealousy 
among the mates.” 

“And you can trust your missis?” asked the other. 

“Gentlemen of fortune,” returned the cook, “usu- 
ally trust little among themselves, and right they 
are, you may lay to it. But I have a way with me, 
I have. When a mate brings a slip on his cable^ — 
one as knows me, I mean — it won’t be in the same 
world with old John. There was some that was 
feared of Pew, and some that was feared of Flint; 
but Flint his own self was feared of me. Feared he 
was, and proud. They was the roughest crew afloat, 
was Flint’s; the devil himself would have been 


TREASURE ISLAND 


75 


feared to go to sea with them. Well, now, I tell you, 
I’m not a boasting man, and you seen yourself how 
easy I keep company; but when I was quartermas- 
ter, lambs wasn’t the word for Flint’s old buccaneers. 
Ah, you may be sure of yourself in old John’s ship.” 

“Well, I tell you now,” replied the lad, “I didn’t 
half a quarter like the job till I had this talk with 
you, John, but there’s my hand on it now.” 

“And a brave lad you were, and smart, too,” an- 
swered Silver, shaking hands so heartily that all the 
barrel shook, “and a finer figurehead for a gentleman 
of fortune I never clapped my eyes on.” 

By this time I had begun to understand the mean- 
ing of their terms. By a “gentleman of fortune” they 
plainly meant neither more nor less than a common 
pirate, and the little scene that I had overheard was 
the last act in the corruption of one of the honest 
hands — perhaps of the last one left aboard. But on 
this point I was soon to be relieved, for Silver giving 
a little whistle, a third man strolled up and sat down 
by the party. 

“Dick’s square,” said Silver. 

“Oh, I know’d Dick was square,” returned the 
voice of the cockswain, Israel Hands. “He’s no fool, 
is Dick.” And he turned his quid and spat. “But, 
look here,” he went on, “here’s what I want to know. 
Barbecue — how long are we a-going to stand off and 
on like a blessed bum-boat?^ I’ve had a’most enough 
o’ Cap’n Smollett; he’s hazed me long enough, by 
thunder ! I want to go into that cabin, I do. I want 
their pickles and wines, and that.” 

“Israel,” said Silver, “your head ain't much ac- 
count, nor never was. But you’re able to‘ hear, I 
reckon; leastways your ears is big enough. Now, 
here’s what I say — you’ll berth forward, and you’ll 
live hard, and you’ll speak soft, and you’ll keep 
sober, till I give the word ; and you may lay to that, 
my son.” 

“Well, I don’t say no, do I?” growled the cock- 


76 * 


TREASURE ISLAND 


swain. “What I say is, when? That’s what I say.” 

“When! by the powers!” cried Silver. “Well, 
now, if you want to know. I’ll tell you when. The 
last moment I can manage ; and that’s when. Here’s 
a first-rate seaman, Cap’n Smollett, sails the blessed 
ship for us. Here’s this squire and doctor with a 
map and such — I don’t know where it is, do I? No 
more do you, says you. Well, then, I mean this squire 
and doctor shall find the stuff, and help us to get it 
aboard, by the powers. Then we’ll see. If I was sure 
of you all, sons of double Dutchmen, I’d have Cap’n 
Smollett navigate us halfway back again before I 
struck.” 

“Why, we’re all seamen aboard here, I should 
think,” said the lad Dick. 

“We’re all fok’s’le hands, you mean,” snapped 
Silver. “We can steer a course, but who’s to set one? 
That’s what all you gentlemen split on, first and last. 
If I had my way. I’d have Cap’n Smollett work us 
back into the trades at least; then we’d have no 
blessed miscalculations and a spoonful of water a 
day. But I know the sort you are. I’ll finish with 
’em at the island, as soon’s the blunt’s^ on board, and 
a pity it is. But you’re never happy till you’re drunk. 
Split my sides, I’ve a sick heart to sail with the likes 
of you!” 

“Easy all. Long John,” cried Israel. “Who’s a- 
crossin’ of you?” 

“Why, how many tall ships, think ye, now, have 
I seen laid aboard? and how many brisk lads drying 
in the sun at Execution Dock ?”2 cried Silver; “and 
all for this same hurry and hurry and hurry. You 
hear me? I seen a thing or two at sea, I have. If you 
would on’y lay your course, and a p’int to windward, 
you would ride in carriages, you would. But not you ! 
I know you. You’ll have your mouthful of rum to- 
morrow, and go hang.” 

“Everybody know’d you was a kind of a chapling, 
John; but there’s others as could hand and steer as 


TREASURE ISLAND 


77 


well as you,” said Israel. “They liked a bit o’ fun, 
they did. They wasn’t so high and dry, nohow, but 
took their fling, like jolly companions, every one.” 

“So?” said Silver. “Well, and where are they 
now? Pew was that sort, and he died a beggarman. 
Flint was, and he died of rum at Savannah. Ah, 
they was a sweet crew, they was! on’y, where are 
they?” 

“But,” asked Dick, “when we do lay ’em athwart, 
what are we to do with ’em, anyhow?” 

“There’s the man for me!” cried the cook, ad- 
miringly. “That’s what I call business. Well, what 
would you think? Put ’em ashore like maroons? 
That would have been England’s way. Or cut ’em 
down like that much pork? That would have been 
Flint’s or Billy Bones’.” 

“Billy was the man for that,” said Israel. “ ‘Dead 
men don’t bite,’ says he. Well, he’s dead now, his- 
self ; he knows the long and the short on it now ; and 
if ever a rough hand come to port, it was Billy.” 

“Right you are,” said Silver, “rough and ready. 
But mark you here ; I’m an easy man — I’m quite the 
gentleman, says you; but this time it’s serious. 
Dooty is dooty, mates. I give my vote death. When 
I’m in Parlyment, and riding in my coach, I don’t 
want none of these sea-lawyers in the cabin a-coming 
home, unlooked for, like the devil at prayers. Wait is 
what I say; but when the time comes, why, let her 
rip !” 

“John,” cried the cockswain, “you’re a man!” 

“You’ll say so, Israel, when you see,” said Silver. 
“Only one thing I claim — I claim Trelawney. I’ll 
wring his calf’s head off his body with these hands. 
Dick!” he added, breaking off, “you must jump up, 
like a sweet lad, and get me an apple, to wet my pipe 
like.” 

You may fancy the terror I was in! I should have 
leaped out and run for it, if I had found the strength; 
but my limbs and heart alike misgave me. I heard 


78 


TREASURE ISLAND 


Dick begin to rise, and then someone seemingly 
stopped him, and the voice of Hands exclaimed : 

“Oh, stow that! Don’t you get sucking of that 
bilge, John. Let’s have a go of the rum.” 

“Dick,” said Silver, “I trust you. I’ve a gauge on 
the keg, mind. There’s the key; you fill a pannikin 
and bring it up.” 

Terrified as I was, I could not help -thinking to my- 
self that this must have been how Mr. Arrow got 
the strong waters that destroyed him. 

Dick was gone but a little while, and during his 
absence Israel spoke straight on in the cook’s ear. 
It was but a word or two that I could catch, and yet 
I gathered some important news ; for, besides other 
scraps that tended to the same purpose, this whole 
clause was audible: “Not another man of them’ll 
jine.” Hence there were still faithful men on board. 

When Dick returned, one after another of the trio 
took the pannikin and drank — one “To luck”; another 
with a “Here’s to old Flint,” and Silver himself say- 
ing, in a kind of song, “Here’s to ourselves, and hold 
your luff, plenty of prizes and plenty of duff.” 

Just then a sort of brightness fell upon me in the 
barrel, and, looking up, I found the moon had risen, 
and was silvering the mizzen-top and shining white 
on the luff of the foresail, and almost at the same 
time the voice on the lookout shouted, “Land ho 1” 


CHAPTER XII 

COUNCIL OF WAR 

There was a great rush of feet across the deck. 
I could hear the people tumbling up from the cabin 
and the fok’s’le, and, slipping in an instant outside 
my barrel, I dived behind the foresail, made a double 
toward the stern, and came out upon the open deck 
in time to join Hunter and Doctor Livesey in the 
rush for the weather bow. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


79 


There all hands were already congregated. A belt 
of fog had lifted almost simultaneously with the ap- 
pearance of the moon. Away to the southwest of us 
we saw two low hills, about a couple of miles apart, 
and rising behind one of them a third and higher hill, 
whose peak was still buried in the fog. All three 
seemed sharp and conical in figure. 

So much I saw almost in a dream, for I had not 
yet recovered from my horrid fear of a minute or two 
before. And then I heard the voice of Captain 
Smollett issuing orders. The Hispaniola was laid a 
couple of points nearer the wind, and now sailed a 
course that would just clear the island on the east. 

“And now, men,” said the captain, when all was 
sheeted home,^ “has any one of you ever seen that 
land ahead?” 

“I have, sir,” said Silver. “I’ve watered there with 
a trader I was cook in.” 

“The anchorage is on the south, behind an islet, I 
fancy?” asked the captain. 

“Yes, sir. Skeleton Island they calls it. It were a 
main place for pirates once, and a hand we had on 
board knowed all their names for it. That hill to the 
nor’ard they calls the Foremast Hill; there are 
three hills in a row running south’ard — fore, main, 
and mizzen, sir. But the main — that’s the big ’un, 
with the cloud on it — they usually calls the Spy-glass, 
by reason of a lookout they kept when they was in 
the anchorage cleaning; for it’s there they cleaned 
their ships, sir, asking your pardon.” 

“I have a chart here,” said Captain Smollett. “See 
if that’s the place.” 

Long John’s eyes burned in his head as he took the 
chart, but, by the fresh look of the paper, I knew he 
was doomed to disappointment. This was not the 
map we found in Billy Bones’ chest, but an accurate 
copy, complete in all things — names, and heights, and 
soundings — with the single exception of the red 
crosses and the written notes. Sharp as must have 


80 TREASURE ISLAND 

been his annoyance, Silver had the strength of mind 
to hide it. 

“Yes, sir,” said he, “this is the spot, to be sure, 
and very prettily drawed out. Who might have done 
that, I wonder? The pirates were too ignorant, I 
reckon. Aye, here it is: ‘Captain Kidd’s^ anchor- 
age' — just the name my shipmate called it. There’s 
a strong current runs along the south, and then away 
nor’ard up the west coast. Right you was, sir,” said 
he, “to haul your wind and keep the weather of the 
island. Leastways, if such was your intention as to 
enter and careen,^ and there ain’t no better place for 
that in these waters.” 

“Thank you, my man,” said Captain Smollett. “I’ll 
ask you, later on, to give us a help. You may go.” 

I was surprised at the coolness with which John 
avowed his knowledge of the island, and I own I was 
half-frightened when I saw him drawing nearer to 
myself. He did not know, to be sure, that I had over- 
heard his council from the apple barrel, and yet I had, 
by this time, taken such a horror of his cruelty, 
duplicity, and power, that I could scarce conceal a 
shudder when he laid his hand upon my arm. 

“Ah,” said he, “this here is a sweet spot, this is- 
land — a sweet spot for a lad to get ashore on. You’ll 
bathe, and you’ll climb trees, and you’ll hunt goats, 
you will, and you’ll get aloft on them hills like a goat 
yourself. Why, it makes me young again. I was go- 
ing to forget my timber leg, I was. It’s a pleasant 
thing to be young, and have ten toes, and you may 
lay to that. When you want to go a bit of exploring, 
you just ask old John and he’ll put up a snack for 
you to take along.” 

And clapping me in the friendliest way upon the 
shoulder, he hobbled off forward and went below. 

Captain Smollett, the squire, and Doctor Livesey 
were talking together on the quarter-deck, and anx- 
ious as I was to tell them my story, I durst not inter- 
rupt them openly. While I was still casting about in 


TREASURE ISLAND 


81 


my thoughts to find some probable excuse, Doctor 
Livesey called me to his side. He had left his pipe 
below, and being a slave to tobacco, had meant that I 
should fetch it; but as soon as I was near enough 
to speak and not be overheard, I broke out imme- 
diately : “Doctor, let me speak. Get the captain and 
squire down to the cabin, and then make some pre- 
tense to send for me. I have terrible news.” 

The doctor changed countenance a little, but next 
moment he was master of himself. 

“Thank you, Jim,” said he, quite loudly; “that 
was all I wanted to know,” as if he had asked me a 
question. 

And with that he turned on his heel and rejoined 
the other two. They spoke together for a little, and 
though none of them started, or raised his voice, or 
so much as whistled, it was plain enough that Doctor 
Livesey had communicated my request, for the next 
thing that I heard was the captain giving an order 
to Job Anderson, and all hands were piped on deck. 

“My lads,” said Captain Smollett, “I’ve a word to 
say to you. This land that we have sighted is the 
place we have been sailing to. Mr. Trelawney, being 
a very open-handed gentleman, as we all know, has 
just asked me a word or two, and as I was able to tell 
him that every man on board had done his duty, alow 
and aloft, as I never ask to see it done better, why, 
he and I and the doctor are going below to the cabin 
to drink your health and luck, and you’ll have grog 
served out for you to drink our health and luck. I’ll 
tell you what I think of this: I think it handsome. 
And if you think as I do, you’ll give a good sea-cheer 
for the gentleman that does it.” 

The cheer followed — that was a matter of course 
— but it rang out so full and hearty, that I confess 
I could hardly believe these same men were plotting 
for our blood. 

“One more cheer for Cap’n Smollett!” cried Long 
John, when the first had subsided. 


S2 


TREASURE ISLAND 


And this also was given with a will. 

On the top of that the three gentlemen went below, 
and not long after word was sent forward that Jim 
Hawkins was wanted in the cabin. 

I found them all three seated round the table, a 
bottle of Spanish wine and some raisins before them, 
and the doctor smoking away, with his wig on his 
lap, and that, I knew, was a sign that he was agitated. 
The stern window was open, for it was a warm 
night, and you could see the moon shining behind on 
the ship’s wake. 

“Now, Hawkins,” said the squire, “you have some- 
thing to say. Speak up.” 

I did as I was bid, and, as short as I could make it, 
told the whole details of Silver’s conversation. No- 
body interrupted me till I was done, nor did any one 
of the three of them make so much as a movement, 
but they kept their eyes upon my face from first to 
last. 

“Jim,” said Doctor Livesey, “take a seat.” 

And they made me sit down at a table beside them, 
poured me out a glass of wine, filled my hands with 
raisins, and all three, one after the other, and each 
with a bow, drank my good health, and their service 
to me, for my luck and courage. 

“Now, captain,” said the squire, “you were right 
and I was wrong. I own myself an ass, and I await 
your orders.” 

“No more an ass than I, sir,” returned the captain. 
“I never heard of a crew that meant to mutiny but 
what showed signs before, for any man that had an 
eye in his head to see the mischief and take steps 
according. But this crew,” he added, “beats me.” 

“Captain,” said the doctor, “with your permission, 
that’s Silver. A very remarkable man.” 

“He’d look remarkably well from a yard-arm,^ sir,” 
returned the captain. “But this is talk; this don’t 
lead to anything. I see three or four points, and with 
Mr. Trelawney’s permission I’ll name them.” 


TREASURE ISLAND 


83 


“You, sir, are the captain. It is for you to speak,” 
said Mr. Trelawney, grandly. 

“First point,” began Mr. Smollett, “we must go on 
because we can’t turn back. If I gave the word to 
turn about they would rise at once. Second point, we 
have time before us — at least until this treasure’s 
found. Third point, there are faithful hands. Now, 
sir, it’s got to come to blows sooner or later, and 
what I propose is to take time by the forelock, as the 
saying is, and come to blows some fine day when they 
least expect it. We can count, I take it, on your own 
home servants, Mr. Trelawney?” 

“As upon myself,” declared the squire. 

“Three,” reckoned the captain; “ourselves make 
seven, counting Hawkins here. Now about the hon- 
est hands?” 

“Most likely Trelawney’s own men,” said the doc- 
tor; “those he picked up for himself before he lit 
on Silver.” 

“Nay,” replied the squire, “Hands was one of 
mine.” 

“I did think I could have trusted Hands,” added 
the captain. 

“And to think that they’re all Englishmen!” broke 
out the squire. “Sir, I could find it in my heart to , 
blow the ship up.” 

“Well, gentlemen,” said the captain, “the best that 
1 can say is not much. We must lay to, if you please, 
and keep a bright lookout. It’s trying on a man, I 
know. It would be pleasanter to come to blows. But 
there’s no help for it till we know our men. Lay to 
and whistle for a wind; that’s my view.” 

“Jim here,” said the doctor, “can help us more than 
anyone. The men are not shy with him and Jim is a 
noticing lad.” 

“Hawkins, I put prodigious faith in you,” added 
the squire. 

I began to feel pretty desperate at this, for I felt 
altogether helpless; and yet, by an odd train of cir- 


8 A TREASURE ISLAND 

cumstances, it was indeed through me that safety 
came. In the meantime, talk as we pleased, there 
were only seven out of the twenty-six on whom we 
knew we could rely, and out of these seven one was 
a boy, so that the grown men on our side were six 
to their nineteen. 


PART III 

MY SHORE ADVENTURE 
CHAPTER XIII 

HOW I BEGAN MY SHORE ADVENTURE 

The appearance of the island when I came on deck 
next morning was altogether changed. Although 
the breeze had now utterly failed we had made a great 
deal of way during the night and were now lying be- 
calmed about half a mile to the southeast of the low 
eastern coast. Gray-colored woods covered a large 
part of the surface. This even tint was indeed brok- 
en up by streaks of yellow sandbreak in the lower 
lands and by many tall trees of the pine family, out- 
topping the others — some singly, some in clumps; 
but the general coloring was uniform and sad. The 
hills ran up clear above the vegetation in spires of 
naked rock. All were strangely shaped, and the 
Spy-glass, which was by three or four hundred feet 
the tallest on the island, was likewise the strangest 
in configuration, running up sheer from almost every 
side and then suddenly cut off at the top like a pedes- 
tal to put a statue on. 

The Hispaniola was rolling scuppers^ under in the 
ocean swell. The booms were tearing at the blocks, 
the rudder was banging to and fro and the whole 
ship creaking, groaning, and jumping like a manu- 
factory. I had to cling tight to the backstay and the 
world turned giddily before my eyes, for though I 
was a good enough sailor when there was way on, 
this standing still and being rolled about like a bottle 


S6 


TREASURE ISLAND 


was a thing I never learned to stand without a qualm 
or so, above all in the morning, on an empty stomach. 

Perhaps it was this — perhaps it was the look of 
the island, with its gray, melancholy woods, and wild 
stone spires, and the surf that we could both see and 
hear foaming and thundering on the steep beach — at 
least, although the sun shone bright and hot, and the 
shore birds were fishing and crying all around us, and 
you would have thought anyone would have been glad 
to get to land after being so long at sea, my heart 
sunk, as the saying is, into my boots, and from that 
first look onward I hated the very thought of Treas- 
ure Island. 

We had a dreary morning’s work before us, for 
there was no sign of any wind and the boats had to 
be got out and manned and the ship warped^ three 
or four miles round the corner of the island and up 
the narrow passage to the haven behind Skeleton 
Island. I volunteered for one of the boats, where I 
had of course no business. The heat was sweltering 
and the men grumbled fiercely over their work. An- 
derson was in command of my boat, and instead of 
keeping the crew in order he grumbled as loud as the 
worst. 

“Well,” he said, with an oath, “it’s not forever.” 
I thought this was a very bad sign, for, up to that 
day, the men had gone briskly and willingly about 
their business, but the very sight of the island had 
relaxed the cords of discipline. 

All the way in. Long John stood by the steersman 
and conned^ the ship. He knew the passage like the 
palm of his hand ; and though the man in the chains* 
got everywhere more water than was down in the 
chart, John never hesitated once. 

“There’s a strong scour with the ebb,”'* he said, 
“and this here passage has been dug out, in a manner 
of speaking, with a spade.” 

We brought up just where the anchor was in the 
chart, about a third of a mile from either shore, the 


TREASURE ISLAND 


87 


mainland on one side and Skeleton Island on the 
other. The bottom was clean sand. The plunge of 
our anchor sent up clouds of birds wheeling and cry- 
ing over the woods, but in less than a minute they 
were all down again, and all was once more silent. 

The place was entirely land-locked, buried in 
woods, the trees coming right down to high-water 
mark, the shores mostly flat, and the hill-tops stand- 
ing round at a distance in a sort of amphitheater, one 
here, one there. Two little rivers, or rather two 
swamps, emptied out into this pond, as you might 
call it; and the foliage round that part of the shore 
had a kind of poisonous brightness. From the ship 
we could see nothing of the house or stockade, for 
they were quite buried among trees; and if it had 
not been for the chart on the companion, we might 
have been the first that had ever anchored there 
since the islands arose out of the seas. 

There was not a breath of air moving, nor a sound 
but that of the surf booming half a mile away along 
the beaches and against the rocks outside. A pecu- 
liar stagnant smell hung over the anchorage — a smell 
of sodden leaves and rotten tree-trunks. I observed 
the doctor sniffing and sniffing, like someone tasting 
a bad egg. 

“I don’t know about treasure,” he said, “but I’ll 
stake my wig there’s fever here.” 

If the conduct of the men had been alarming in the 
boat, it became truly threatening when they had come 
aboard. They lay about the deck, growling together 
in talk. The slightest order was received with a 
black look, and grudgingly and carelessly obeyed. 
Even the honest hands must have caught the infec- 
tion, for there was not one man aboard to mend an- 
other. Mutiny, it was plain, hung over us like a 
thunder-cloud. 

And it was not only we of the cabin party who 
perceived the danger. Long John was hard at work 
going from group to group, spending himself in good 


88 


TREASURE ISLAND 


advice, and as for example no man could have shown 
a better. He fairly outstripped himself in willing- 
ness and civility; he was all smiles to everyone. If 
an order were given, John would be on his crutch 
in an instant, with the cheeriest “Aye, aye, sir!” in 
the world; and when there was nothing else to do, 
he kept up one song after another, as if to conceal the 
discontent of the rest. 

Of all the gloomy features of that gloomy after- 
noon, this obvious anxiety on the part of Long John 
appeared the worst. 

We held a council in the cabin. 

“Sir,” said the captain, “if I risk another order, 
the whole ship’ll come about our ears by the run. 
You see, sir, here it is. I get a rough answer, do I 
not? Well, if I speak back, pikes will be going in two 
shakes ; if I don’t. Silver will see there’s something 
under that, and the game’s up. Now, we’ve only one 
man to rely on.” 

“And who is that?” asked the squire.' 

“Silver, sir,” returned the captain; “he’s as anx- 
ious as you and I to smother things up. This is a 
tiff ; he’d soon talk ’em out of it if he had the chance, 
and what I propose to do is to give him the chance. 
Let’s allow the men an afternoon ashore. If they all 
go, why, we’ll fight the ship. If they none of them 
go, well, then, we hold the cabin, and God defend the 
right. If some go, you mark my words, sir. Silver’ll 
bring ’em aboard again as mild as lambs.” 

It was so decided ; loaded pistols were served out 
to all the sure men. Hunter, Joyce, and Redruth 
were taken into our confidence, and received the news 
with less surprise and a better spirit than we had 
looked for, and then the captain went on deck and 
addressed the crew. 

“My lads,” said he, “we’ve had a hot day, and are 
all tired and out of sorts. A turn ashore’ll hurt 
nobody; the boats are still in the water; you can 
take the gigs,^ and as many as please can go ashore 


TREASURE ISLAND 89 

for the afternoon. I’ll fire a gun half an hour before 
sun-down.” 

I believe the silly fellows must have thought they 
would break their shins over the treasure as soon as 
they were landed; for they all came out of their 
sulks in a moment, and gave a cheer that started the 
echo in a far-away hill, and sent the birds once more 
flying and squalling round the anchorage. 

The captain was too bright to be in the way. He 
whipped out of sight in a moment, leaving Silver to 
arrange the party, and I fancy it was well he did so. 
Had he been on deck, he could no longer so much 
as have pretended not to understand the situation. 
It was as plain as day. Silver was the captain, and 
a mighty rebellious crew he had of it. The honest 
hands — and I was soon to see it proved that there 
were such on board — must have been very stupid 
fellows. Or, rather, I suppose the truth was this: 
that all hands were disaffected by the example of the 
ringleaders — only some more, some less; and a few, 
being good fellows in the main, could neither be led 
nor driven any farther. It is one thing to be idle and 
skulk, and quite another to take a ship and murder a 
number of innocent men. 

At last, however, the party was made up. Six fel- 
lows were to stay on board, and the remaining thir- 
teen, including Silver, began to embark. 

Then it was that there came into my head the first 
of the mad notions that contributed so much to save 
our lives. If six men were left by Silver, it was plain 
our party could not take and fight the ship; and since 
only six were left, it was equally plain that the cabin 
party had no present need of my assistance. It 
occurred to me at once to go ashore. In a jiffy 1 had 
slipped over the side and curled up in the fore-sheets 
of the nearest boat, and almost at the same moment 
she shoved off. 

No one took notice of me, only the bow oar saying, 
“Is that you, Jim? Keep your head down.” But 


90 


TREASURE ISLAND 


Silver, from the other boat, looked sharply over and 
called out to know if that were me; and from that 
moment I began to regret what I had done. 

The crews raced for the beach, but the boat I was 
in, having some start, and being at once the lighter 
and the better manned, shot far ahead of her con- 
sort, and the bow had struck among the shore-side 
trees, and I had caught a branch and swung myself 
out, and plunged into the nearest thicket, while Silver 
and the rest were still a hundred yards behind. 

“Jim, Jim!” I heard him shouting. 

But you may suppose I paid no heed; jumping, 
ducking, and breaking through, I ran straight before 
my nose, till I could run no longer. 


CHAPTER XIV 

THE FIRST BLOW 

I was SO pleased at having given the slip to Long 
John, that I began to enjoy myself and look around 
me with some interest on the strange land that I was 
in. I had crossed a marshy tract full of willows, 
bulrushes, and odd, outlandish, swampish trees ; and 
I had now come out upon the skirts of an open piece 
of undulating, sandy country, about a mile long, 
dotted with a few pines, and a great number of con- 
torted trees, not unlike the oak in growth, but pale 
in the foliage, like willows. On the far side of the 
open stood one of the hills, with two quaint, craggy 
peaks, shining vividly in the sun. 

I now felt for the first time the joy of exploration. 
The isle was uninhabited; my shipmates I had left 
behind, and nothing lived in front of me but dumb 
brutes and fowls. I turned hither and thither among 
the trees. Here and there were flowering plants, un- 
known to me ; here and there I saw snakes, and one 
raised his head from a ledge of rock and hissed at me 
with a noise not unlike the spinning of a top. Little 


TREASURE ISLAND 


91 


did I suppose that he was a deadly enemy and that the 
noise was the famous rattle. 

Then I came to a long thicket of these oak-like 
trees — live, or evergreen, oaks, I heard afterward 
they should be called — which grew low along the 
sand, like brambles, the boughs curiously twisted, the 
foliage compact, like thatch. The thicket stretched 
down from the top of one of the sandy knolls, spread- 
ing and growing taller as it went, until it reached 
the margin of the broad, reedy fen, through which 
the nearest of the little rivers soaked its way into 
the anchorage. The marsh was steaming in the 
strong sun, and the outline of the Spy-glass trembled 
through the haze. 

All at once there began to go a sort of bustle among 
the bulrushes; a wild duck flew up with a quack, 
another followed, and soon over the whole surface 
of the marsh a great cloud of birds hung screaming 
and circling in the air. I judged at once that some 
of my shipmates must be drawing near along the 
borders of the fen. Nor was I deceived, for soon I 
heard the very distant and low tones of a human 
voice, which, as I continued to give ear, grew steadily 
louder and nearer. 

* This put me in great fear, and I crawled under 
cover of the nearest live-oak, and squatted there, 
hearkening, as silent as a mouse. 

Another voice answered ; and then the first voice, 
which I now recognized to be Silver’s, once more took 
up the story, and ran on for a long while in a stream, 
only now and again interrupted by the other. By 
the sound they must have been talking earnestly, and 
almost fiercely, but no distinct word came to my 
hearing. 

At last the speakers seemed to have paused, and 
perhaps to have sat down, for not only did they cease 
to draw any nearer, but the birds themselves began 
to grow more quiet, and to settle again to their places 
in the swamp. 


92 


TREASURE ISLAND 


And now I began to feel that I was neglecting my 
business; that since I had been so foolhardy as to 
come ashore with these desperadoes, the least I could 
do was to overhear them at their councils, and that 
my plain and obvious duty was to draw as close as I 
could manage, under the favorable ambush of the 
crouching trees. 

I could tell the direction of the speakers pretty 
exactly, not only by the sound of their voices, but by 
th'e behavior of the few birds that still hung in alarm 
above the heads of the intruders. 

Crawling on all-fours I made steadily but slowly 
toward them, till at last, raising my head to an aper- 
ture among the leaves, I could see clear down into a 
little green dell beside the marsh, and closely set 
about with trees, where Long John Silver and an- 
other of the crew stood face to face in conversation. 

The sun beat full upon them. Silver had thrown 
his hat beside him on the ground, and his great, 
smooth, blonde face, all shining with heat, was lifted 
to the other man’s in a kind of appeal. 

“Mate,” he was saying, “it’s because I thinks gold- 
dust of you — gold-dust, and you may lay to that! If I 
hadn’t took to you like pitch, do you think I’d have 
been here a-warning of you? All’s up — ^you can^t 
make nor mend; it’s to save your neck that I’m a- 
speaking, and if one of the wild ’uns knew it, where 
’ud I be, Tom — now tell me, where ’ud I be?” 

“Silver,” said the other man — and I observed he 
was not only red in the face, but spoke as hoarse as a 
crow, and his voice shook, too, like a taut rope — 
“Silver,” says he, “you’re old, and you’re honest, or 
has the name for it; and you’ve money, too, which 
lots of poor sailors hasn’t; and you’re brave, or I’m 
mistook. And will you tell me you’ll let yourself be 
led away with that kind of a mess of swabs? Not 
you! As sure as God sees me, I’d sooner lose my 
hand. If I turn agin my dooty ” 

And then all of a sudden he was interrupted by a 


TREASURE ISLAND 


93 


noise. I had found one of the honest hands — well, 
here, at that same moment, came news of another, 
li'ar away out in the marsh there arose, all of a sud- 
den, a sound like the cry of anger, then another on 
the back of it, and then one horrid, long-drawn 
scream. The rocks of the Spy-glass re-echoed it a 
score of times; the whole troop of marsh-oirds rose 
again, darkening heaven with a simultaneous whir; 
and long after that death-yell was still ringing in 
my brain, silence had re-established its empire, and 
only the rustle of the redescending birds and the 
boom of the distant surges disturbed the languor 
of the afternoon. 

Tom had leaped at the sound, like a horse at the 
spur; but Silver had not winked an eye. He stood 
where he was, resting lightly on his crutch, watching 
his companion like a snake about to spring. 

“John!” said the sailor, stretching out his hand. 

“Hands off!” cried Silver, leaping back a yard, 
as it seemed to me, with the speed and security of a 
trained gymnast. 

“Hands off, if you like, John Silver,” said the 
other. “It’s a black conscience that can make you 
feared of me. But, in heaven’s name, tell me what 
was that?” 

“That?” returned Silver, smiling away, but warier 
than ever, his eye a mere pin-point in his big face, 
but gleaming like a crumb of glass. “That? Oh, I 
reckon that’ll be Alan.” 

And at this poor Tom flashed out like a hero. 

“Alan!” he cried, “Then rest his soul for a true 
seaman! And as for you, John Silver, long you’ve 
been a mate of mine, but you’re mate of mine no 
more. If I die like a dog I’ll die in my dooty. You’ve 
killed Alan, have you ? Kill me, too, if you can. But 
I defies you.” 

And with that this brave fellow turned his back 
directly on the cook and set off walking for the 
beach. But he was not destined to go far. With a 


u 


TREASURE ISLAND 


cry John seized the branch of the tree, whipped the 
crutch out of his armpit, and sent that uncouth mis- 
sile hurling through the air. It struck poor Tom, 
point foremost, and with stunning violence, right be- 
tween the shoulders in the middle of his back. His 
hands flew up, he gave a sort of gasp and fell. 

Whether he was injured much or little, none could 
ever tell. Like enough, to judge from the sound, his 
back was broken on the spot. But he had no time 
given him to recover. Silver, agile as a monkey, even 
without leg or crutch, was on the top of him next mo- 
ment, and had twice buried his knife up to the hilt 
in that defenseless body. From my place of ambush 
I could hear him pant aloud as he struck the blows. 

I do not know what it rightly is to faint, but I do 
know that for the next little while the whole world 
swam away from before me in a whirling mist; Sil- 
ver and the birds and the tall Spy-glass hill-top going 
round and round and topsy-turvy before my eyes, 
and all manner of bells ringing, and distant voices 
shouting in my ear. 

When I came again to myself the monster had pull- 
ed himself together, his crutch under his arm, his 
hat upon his head. Just before him Tom lay motion- 
less upon the sward; but the murderer minded him 
not a whit, cleansing his blood-stained knife the while 
upon a whisp of grass. Everything else was un- 
changed, the sun still shining mercilessly upon the 
steaming marsh and the tall pinnacle of the moun- 
tain, and I could scarce persuade myself that murder 
had actually been done and a human life cruelly cut 
short a moment since, before my eyes. 

But now John put his hand into his pocket, brought 
out a whistle, and blew upon it several modulated 
blasts, that rang far across the heated air. I could 
not tell, of course, the meaning of the signal, but it 
instantly awoke my fears. More men would be com- 
ing. I might be discovered. They had already slain 


TREASURE ISLAND 


95 


two of the honest people ; after Tom and Alan, might 
not I come next? 

Instantly I began to extricate myself and crawl 
back again, with what speed and silence I could 
manage, to the more open portion of the wood. As 
I did so I could hear hails coming and going between 
the old buccaneer and his comrades, and this sound 
of danger lent me wings. As soon as I was clear of 
the thicket, I ran as I never ran before, scarce mind- 
ing the direction of my flight, so long as it led me 
from the murderers, and as I ran, fear grew and 
grew upon me, until it turned into a kind of frenzy. 

Indeed, could anyone be more entirely lost than I? 
When the gun fired, how should I dare to go down to 
the boats among those fiends, still smoking from 
their crime? Would not the first of them who saw 
me wring my neck like a snipe’s? Would not my ab- 
sence itself be an evidence to them of my alarm, and 
therefore of my fatal knowledge? It was all over, I 
thought. Good-by to the Hispaniola, good-by to the 
squire, the doctor, and the captain. There was noth- 
ing left for me but death by. starvation, or death by 
the hands of the mutineers. 

All this while, as I say, I was still running, and, 
without taking any notice, I had drawn near to the 
foot of the little hill with the two peaks, and had got 
into a part of the island where the wild oaks grew 
more widely apart, and seemed more like forest trees 
in their bearing and dimensions. Mingled with these 
were a few scattered pines, some fifty, some nearer 
seventy, feet high. • The air, too, smelled more 
freshly than down beside the marsh. 

And here a fresh alarm brought me to a stand-still 
with a thumping heart. 


96 


TREASURE ISLAND 


CHAPTER XV 

THE MAN OF THE ISLAND 

From the side of the hill, which was here steep and 
stony, a spout of gravel was dislodged, and fell rat- 
tling and bounding through the trees. My eyes turned 
instinctively in that direction, and I saw a figure leap 
with great rapidity behind the trunk of a pine. What 
it was, whether bear, or man, or monkey, I could in 
nowise tell. It seemed dark and shaggy; more I 
knew not. But the terror of this new apparition 
brought me to a stand. 

I was now, it seemed, cut off upon both sides ; be- 
hind me the murderers, before me this lurking non- 
descript. And immediately I began to prefer the dan- 
gers that I knew to those I knew not. Silver himself 
appeared less terrible in contrast with this creature 
of the woods, and I turned on my heel, and, looking 
sharply behind me over my shoulder, began to re- 
trace my steps in the direction of the boats. 

Instantly the figure reappeared, and, making a wide 
circuit, began to head me off. I was tired, at any rate, 
but had I been as fresh as when I rose, I could see it 
was in vain for me to contend in speed with such an 
adversary. From trunk to trunk the creature flitted 
like a deer, running man-like on two legs, but unlike 
any man that I had ever seen, stooping almost double 
as it ran. Yet a man it was ; I could no longer be in 
doubt about that. 

I began to recall what I had heard of cannibals. 
I was within an ace of calling for help. But the mere 
fact that he was a man, however wild, had somewhat 
reassured me, and my fear of Silver Ibegan to revive 
in proportion. I stood still, therefore, and cast about 
for some method of escape, and as I was so thinking, 
the recollection of my pistol flashed into my mind. 
As soon as I remembered I was not defenseless, cour- 
age glowed again in my heart, and I set my face res- 


TREASURE ISLAND 97 

olutely for this man of the island, and walked brisk- 
ly toward him. 

He was concealed by this time, behind another tree- 
trunk, but he must have been watching me closely, 
for as soon as I began to move in his direction he re- 
appeared and took a step to meet me. Then he hesi- 
tated, drew back, came forward again, and at last, to 
my wonder and confusion, threw himself on his knees 
and held out his clasped hands in supplication. 

At that I once more stopped. 

“Who are you ?” I asked. 

“Ben Gunn,” he answered, and his voice sounded 
hoarse and awkward, like a rusty lock. “I’m poor 
Ben Gunn, I am ; and I haven’t spoke with a Chris- 
tian these three years.” 

I could now see that he was a white man like my- 
self, and that his features were even pleasing. His 
skin, wherever it was exposed, was burned by the 
sun ; even his lips were black, and his fair eyes looked 
quite startling in so dark a face. Of all the beggar- 
men that I had seen or fancied, he was the chief for 
raggedness. He was clothed with tatters of old ship’s 
canvas and old sea-cloth, and this extraordinary 
patchwork was all held together by a system of the 
most various and incongruous fastenings, brass but- 
tons, bits of stick, and loops of tarry gaskin.^ About 
his waist he wore an old brass-buckled leather belt, 
which was the one thing solid in his whole accouter- 
ment. 

“Three years!” I cried. “Were you shipwrecked?” 

“Nay, mate,” said he, “marooned.” 

I had heard the word and I knew it stood for a 
horrible kind of punishment common enough among 
the buccaneers, in which the offender is put ashore 
with a little powder and shot and left behind on some 
desolate and distant island. 

“Marooned three years agone,” he continued, “and 
lived on goats since then, and berries and oysters. 
Wherever a man is, says I, a man can do for himself. 


98 


TREASURE ISLAND 


But, mate, my heart is sore for Christian diet. You 
mightn’t happen to have a piece of cheese about you, 
now? No? Well, many’s the long night I’ve dreamed 
of cheese — toasted, mostly — and woke up again, and 
here I were.” 

“If ever I can get aboard again,” said I, “you shall 
have cheese by the stone.”^ 

All this time he had been feeling the stuff of my 
jacket, smoothing my hands, looking at my boots, and 
generally, in the intervals of his speech, showing a 
childish pleasure in the presence of a fellow creature. 
But at my last words he perked up into a kind of 
startled slyness. 

“If ever you get aboard again, says you?” he re- 
peated. “Why, now, who’s to hinder you?” 

“Not you, I know,” was my reply. 

“And right you was,” he cried. “Now you — what 
do you call yourself, mate?” 

“Jim,” I told him. 

“Jim, Jim,” says he, quite pleased, apparently. 
“Well, now, Jim, I’ve lived that rough as you’d be 
ashamed to hear of. Now, for instance, you wouldn’t 
think I had a pious mother — to look at me?” he 
asked. 

“Why, no, not in particular,” I answered. 

“Ah, well,” said he, “but I had — remarkable pious. 
And I was a civil, pious boy, and could rattle off my 
catechism that fast as you couldn’t tell one word 
from another. And here’s what it come to, Jim, and 
it begun with chuck-farthen^ on the blessed grave- 
stones! That’s what it begun with, but it went 
further’n that, and so my mother told me, and pre- 
dicked the whole, she did, the pious woman. But it 
were Providence that put me here. I’ve thought it 
all out in this here lonely island and I’m back on 
piety. You can’t catch me tasting rum so much, but 
just a thimbleful for luck, of course, the first chance I 
have. I’m bound I’ll be good, and I see the way to. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


99 


And, Jim” — looking all round him and lowering his 
voice to a whisper — “I’m rich.” 

I now felt sure that the poor fellow had gone crazy- 
in his solitude, and I suppose I must have shown the 
feeling in my face, for he repeated the statement 
hotly: 

“Rich! rich! I says. And I’ll tell you what. I’ll 
make a man of you, Jim. Ah, Jim, you’ll bless your 
stars, you will, you was the first that found me!” 

And at this there came suddenly a lowering shadow 
over his face and he tightened his grasp upon my 
hand and raised a forefinger threateningly before my 
eyes. 

“Now, Jim, you tell me true; that ain’t Flint’s 
ship?” he asked. 

At this I had a happy inspiration. I began to be- 
lieve that I had found an ally and I answered him at 
once. 

“It’s not Flint’s ship and Flint is dead, but I’ll tell 
you true, as you ask me — there are some of Flint’s 
hands aboard; worse luck for the rest of us.” 

“Not a man — with one — leg?” he gasped. 

“Silver?” I asked. 

“Ah, Silver!” says he, “that were his name.” 

“He’s the cook and the ringleader, too.” 

He was still holding me by the wrist and at that 
he gave it quite a wring. 

“If you was sent by Long John,” he said, “I’m as 
good as pork and I know it. But where was you, do 
you suppose?” 

I had made my mind up in a moment, and by way 
of answer told him the whole story of our voyage 
and the predicament in which we found ourselves. 
He heard me with the keenest interest, and when I 
had done, he patted me on the head. 

“You’re a good lad, Jim,” he said, “and you’re all 
in a clove hitch,i ain’t you? Well, you just put your 
trust in Ben Gunn — Ben Gunn’s the man to do it. 
Would you think it likely, now, that your squire 


100 


TREASURE ISLAND 


would prove a liberal-minded one in case of help — 
him being in a clove hitch, as you remarked?” 

I told him the squire was the most liberal of men. 

“Aye, but you see,” returned Ben Gunn, “I didn’t 
mean giving me a gate to keep and a suit of livery 
clothes, and such; that’s not my mark, Jim. What I 
mean is, would he be likely to come down to the toon 
of, say one thousand pounds out of money that’s as 
good as a man’s own already?” 

“I am sure he would,” said I. “As it was, all hands 
were to share.” 

“And a passage home?” he added, with a look of 
great shrewdness. 

“Why,” I cried, “the squire’s a gentleman. And, 
besides, if we got rid of the others, we should want 
you to help work the vessel home.” 

“Ah,” said he, “so you would.” And he seemed 
very much relieved. 

“Now, I’ll tell you what,” he went on. “So much 
I’ll tell you, and no more. I were in Flint’s ship 
when he buried the treasure ; he and six along — six 
strong seamen. They was ashore nigh on a week, and 
us standing off and on in the old Walrus. One fine 
day up went the signal, and here come Flint by him- 
self in a little boat, and his head done up in a blue 
scarf. The sun was getting up, and mortal white he 
looked about the cutwater.^ But, there he was, you 
mind, and the six all dead — dead and buried. How 
had he done it, not a man aboard us could make out. 
It was battle, murder, and sudden death — leastways, 
him against six. Billy Bones was the mate; Long 
John, he was quartermaster; and they asked him 
where the treasure was. ‘Ah,’ says he, ‘you can go 
ashore, if you like, and stay,’ he says ; ‘but as for the 
ship, she’ll beat up for more, by thunder!’ That’s 
what he said. 

“Well, I was in another ship three years back, and 
we sighted this island. ‘Beys,’ said I, ‘here’s Flint’s 
treasure; let’s land and find it.’ The cap’n was dis- 


TREASURE ISLAND 


101 


pleased at that ; but my messmates were all of a mind, 
and landed. Twelve days they looked for it, and 
every day they had the worse words for me, until one 
fine morning all hands went aboard. ‘As for you, 
Benjamin Gunn,’ says they, ‘here’s a musket,’ they 
says, ‘and a spade, and pick-ax. You can stay here 
and find Flint’s money for yourself,’ they says. 

“Well, Jim, three years have I been here, and not 
a bite of Christian diet from that day to this. But 
now, look you here; look at me. Do I look like a 
man before the mast? No, says you. Nor I weren’t 
neither, I says.” 

And with that he winked and pinched me hard, 

“Just you mention them words to your squire, 
Jim,” he went on. “Nor he weren’t, neither — that’s 
the words. Three years he were the man of this 
island, light and dark, fair and rain ; and sometimes 
he would, may be, think upon a prayer (says you), 
and sometimes he would, may be, think of his old 
mother, so be as she’s alive (you’ll say) ; but the 
most part of Gunn’s time (this is what you’ll say) 
— the most part of his time was took up with another 
matter. And then you’ll give him a nip, like I do.” 

And he pinched me again, in the most confidential 
manner. 

“Then,” he continued, “then you’ll up, and you’ll 
say this: Gunn is a good man (you’ll say), and he 
puts a precious sight more confidence — a precious 
sight, mind that — in a gen’leman born than in these 
gen’lemen of fortune, having been one hisself.” 

“Well,” I said, “I don’t understand one word that 
you’ve been saying. -But that’s neither here nor 
there; for how am I to get on board?” 

“Ah,” said he, “that’s the hitch for sure. Well, 
there’s my boat that I made with my two hands. I 
keep her under the white rock. If the worst come 
to the worst, we might try that after dark. Hi!” he 
broke out, “what’s that?” 

For just then, although the sun had still an hour or 


102 


TREASURE ISLAND 


two to run, all the echoes of the island awoke and 
bellowed to the thunder of a cannon. 

“They have begun to fight!” I cried. “Follow me!” 

And I began to run toward the anchorage, my 
terrors all forgotten; while, close at my side, the 
marooned man in his goatskins trotted easily and 
lightly. 

“Left, left,” says he ; “keep to your left hand, mate 
Jim! Under the trees with you! There’s where 1 
killed my first goat. They don’t come down here 
now; they’re all mastheaded on them mountings for 
the fear of Benjamin Gunn. Ah! and there’s the 
cetemery” — cemetery he must have meant, “You 
see the mounds? I come here and prayed, nows and 
thens, when I thought may be a Sunday would be 
about doo. It weren’t quite a chapel, but it seemed 
more solemn like ; and then, says you, Ben Gunn was 
shorthanded — no chapling, nor so much as a Bible 
and a flag, you says.” 

So he kept talking as I ran, neither expecting nor 
receiving any answer. 

The cannon-shot was followed, after a considerable 
interval, by a volley of small arms. 

Another pause, and then, not a quarter of a mile in 
front of me, I beheld the Union Jack flutter in the air 
above a wood. 


PART IV 

THE STOCKADE 


CHAPTER XVI 

NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR — HOW THE SHIP 
WAS ABANDONED 

It was about half-past one — three bells in the sea 
phrase — that the two boats went ashore from the 
Hispaniola. The captain, the squire, and I were talk- 
ing matters over in the cabin. Had there been a 
breath of wind, we should have fallen on the six 
mutineers who were left aboard with us, slipped our 
cable, and away to sea. But the wind was wanting; 
and, to complete our helplessness, down came Hunter 
with the news that Jim Hawkins had slipped into a 
boat and was gone ashore with the rest. 

It had never occurred to us to doubt Jim Hawkins, 
but we were alarmed for his safety. With the men 
in the temper they were in, it seemed an even chance 
if we should see the lad again. We ran on deck. 
The pitch was bubbling in the seams; the nasty 
stench of the place turned me sick; if ever a man 
smelled fever and dysentery, it was in that abomina- 
ble anchorage. The six scoundrels were sitting 
grumbling under a sail in the forecastle; ashore we 
could see the gigs made fast, and a man sitting in 
each, hard by where the river runs in. One of them 
was whistling “Lillibullero.”^ 

Waiting was a strain, and it was decided that Hun- 
ter and I should go ashore with the jolly-boat,^ in 
quest of information. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


lOU 

The gigs had leaned to their right, but Hunter and 
I pulled straight in, in the direction of the stockade 
upon the chart. The two who were left guarding 
their boats seemed in a bustle at our appearance; 
“Lillibullero” stopped off, and I could see the pair 
discussing what they ought to do. Had they gone 
and told Silver, all might have turned out differently; 
but they had their orders, I suppose, and decided to 
sit quietly where they were and hark back again to 
“Lillibullero.” 

There was a slight bend in the coast, and I steered 
so as to put it between us. Even before we landed 
we had thus lost sight of the gigs; I jumped out 
and came as near running as I durst, with a big silk 
handkerchief under my hat for coolness’ sake, and a 
brace of pistols ready primed for safety. 

I had not gone a hundred yards when I came on the 
stockade. 

This was how it was: A spring of clear water 
arose at the top of a knoll. Well on the knoll, and 
inclosing the spring, they had clapped a stout log 
house, fit to hold two score people on a pinch, and 
loop-holed for musketry on every side. All around 
this they had cleared a wide space, and then the 
thing was completed by a paling six feet high, with- 
out door or opening, too strong to pull down without 
time and labor, and too open to shelter the besiegers. 
The people in the log house had them in every way; 
they stood quiet in the shelter and shot the others 
like partridges. All they wanted was a good watch 
and food; for, short of a complete surprise, they 
might have held the place against a regiment. 

What particularly took my fancy was the spring. 
For, though we had a good enough place of it in the 
cabin of the Hispaniola, with plenty of arms and am- 
munition, and things to eat, and excellent wines, 
there had been one thing overlooked — we had no 
water. I was thinking this over, when there came 
ringing over the island the cry of a man at the point 


TREASURE ISLAND 


105 


of death. I was not new to violent death — I have 
served his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, 
and got a wound myself at Fontenoy — but I knov/ 
my pulse went dot and carry one.^ “Jim Hawkins is 
gone,” was my first thought. 

It is something to have .been an old soldier, but 
more still to have been a doctor. There is no time 
to dilly-dally in our work. And so now I made up my 
mind instantly, and with no time lost returned to the 
shore and jumped on board the jolly-boat. 

By good fortune Hunter pulled a good oar. We 
made the water fly, and the boat was soon alongside 
and I aboard the schooner. 

I found them all shaken, as was natural. The 
squire was sitting down, as white as a sheet, thinking 
of the harm he had led us to, the good soul! and 
one of the six forecastle hands was little better. 

“There’s a man,” said Captain Smollett, nodding 
toward him, “new to this work. He came nigh-hand 
fainting, doctor, when he heard the cry. Another 
touch of the rudder and that man would join us.” 

I told my plan to the captain, and between us we 
settled on the details of its accomplishment. 

We put old Redruth in the gallery between the 
cabin and the forecastle/ with three or four loaded 
muskets and a mattress for protection. Hunter 
brought the boat round under the stern port, and 
Joyce and I set to work loading her with powder, tins, 
muskets, bags of biscuits, kegs of pork, a cask of 
cognac, and my invaluable medicine chesL 

In the meantime the squire and the captain stayed 
on deck, and the latter hailed the cockswain, who was 
the principal man aboard. 

“Mr. Hands,” he said, “here are two of us with a 
brace of pistols each. If any one of you six make a 
signal of any description, that man’s dead.” 

They were a good deal taken aback; and, after a 
little consultation, one and all tumbled down the fore 
companion, thinking, no doubt, to take us on the rear. 



SCENE FROM PHOTOPLAY “ TREASURE ISLAND 0»‘rte>,, of Paramount Pictvres 


TREASURE ISLAND 


107 


But when they saw Redruth waiting for them in the 
sparred gallery, they went about ship at once, and a 
head popped out again on deck. 

“Down, dog!" cried the captain. 

And the head popped back again, and we heard no 
more for the time of these six very faint-hearted 
seamen. 

By this time, tumbling things in as they came, we 
had the jolly-boat loaded as much as we dared. 
Joyce and I got out through the stern port, and we 
made for shore again, as fast as oars could take us. 

This second trip fairly aroused the watchers along 
shore. “Lillibullero” was dropped again, and just 
before we lost sight of them behind the little point, 
one of them whipped ashore and disappeared. I had 
half a mind to change my plan and destroy their 
boats, but I feared that Silver and the others might 
be close at hand, and all might very well be lost by 
trying for too much. 

We had soon touched land in the same place as 
before and set to provision the block-house. All 
three made the first journey, heavily laden, and tossed 
our stores over the palisade. Then, leaving Joyce 
to guard them — one man, to be sure, but with half a 
dozen muskets — Hunter and I returned to the jolly- 
boat, and loaded ourselves once more. So we pro- 
ceeded, without pausing to take breath, till the whole 
cargo was bestowed, when the two servants took up 
their position in the block-house, and I, with all my 
power, sculled back to the Hispaniola. 

That we should have risked a second boat-load 
seems more daring than it really was. They had the 
advantage of numbers, of course, but we had the 
advantage of arms. Not one of the men ashore had 
a musket, and before they could get within range 
for pistol shooting, we flattered ourselves we should 
be able to give a good account of a half-dozen at 
least. 

The squire was waiting for me at the stern window. 


108 


TREASURE ISLAND 


all his faintness gone from him. He caught the 
painter^ and made it fast, and we fell to loading the 
boat for our very lives. Pork, powder, and biscuit 
was the cargo, with only a musket and a cutlass 
apiece for squire and me and Redruth and the cap- 
tain. The rest of the arms and powder we dropped 
overboard in two fathoms and a half of water, so 
that we could see the bright steel shining far below 
us in the sun on the clean, sandy bottom. 

By this time the tide was beginning to ebb, and 
the ship was swinging round to her anchor. Voices 
were heard faintly hallooing in the direction of the 
two gigs; and though this reassured us for Joyce 
and Hunter, who were well to the eastward, it warned 
our party to be off. 

Redruth retreated from his place in the gallery 
and dropped into the boat, which we then brought 
round to the ship’s counter,^ to be handier for Cap- 
tain Smollett. 

“Now, men,” said he, “do you hear me?” 

There was no answer from the forecastle. 

“It’s to you, Abraham Gray — it’s to you I am 
speaking.” 

Still no reply. 

“Gray,” resumed Mr. Smollett, a little louder, “I 
am leaving this ship, and I order you to follow your 
captain. I know you are a good man at bottom, and 
I dare say not one of the lot of you’s as bad as he 
makes out. I have my watch here in my hand; I 
give you thirty seconds to join me in.” 

There was a pause. 

“Come, my fine fellow,” continued the captain, 
“don’t hang so long in stays.-’^ I’m risking my life 
and the lives of these good gentlemen every second.” 

There was a sudden scuffle, a sound of blows, and 
out burst Abraham Gray with a knife-cut on the side 
of the cheek, and came running to the captain, like a 
dog to the whistle. 

“I’m with you, sir,” said he. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


109 


And the next moment he and the captain had 
dropped aboard of us, and we had shoved off and 
given way. 

We were clear out of the ship, but not yet ashore 
in our stockade. 


CHAPTER XVII 

NAERATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR — THE JOLLY- 
BOAT’S LAST TRIP 

This fifth trip was quite different from any of the 
others. In the first place, the little gallipot^ of a 
boat that we were in was gravely overloaded. Five 
grown men, and three of them — Trelawney, Redruth, 
and the captain — over six feet high, was already more 
than she was meant to carry. Add to that the pow- 
der, pork, and the bread-bags. The gunwale^ was 
lipping astern.3 Several times we shipped a little 
water, and my breeches and the tails of my coat were 
all soaking wet before we had gone a hundred yards. 

The captain made us trim the boat, and we got 
her to lie a little more evenly. All the same, we 
were afraid to breathe. 

In the second place, the ebb was now making — a 
strong, rippling current running westward through 
the basin, and then south’ard and seaward down the 
straits by which we had entered in the morning. 
Even the ripples were a danger to our overloaded 
craft, but the worst of it was that we were swept 
out of our true course, and away from our landing- 
place behind the point. If we let the current have 
its way we should come ashore beside the gigs, where 
the pirates might appear at any moment. 

“I cannot keep her head for the stockade, sir,” 
said I to the captain. I was steering, while he and 
Redruth, two fresh men, were at the oars. “The tide 


no TREASURE ISLAND 

keeps washing her down. Could you pull a little 
stronger?” 

“Not without swamping the boat,” said he. “You 
must bear up, sir, if you please — bear up until you 
see you’re gaining.” 

I tried, and found by experiment that the tide kept 
sweeping us westward until I had laid her head due 
east, or just about right angles to the way we ought 
to go. 

“We’ll never get ashore at this rate,” said I. 

“If it’s the only course that we can lie, sir, we 
must even lie it,” returned the captain. “We must 
keep up stream. You see, sir,” he went on, “if once 
we dropped to leeward of the landing-place, it’s hard 
to say where we should get ashore, besides the chance 
of being boarded by the gigs; whereas, the way we 
go the current must slacken, and then we can dodge 
back along the shore.” 

“The current’s less a’ready, sir,” said the man 
Gray, who was sitting in the fore-sheets; “you can 
ease her off a bit.” 

“Thank you, my man,” said I, quite as if nothing 
had happened, for we had all quietly made up our 
minds to treat him like one of ourselves. 

Suddenly the captain spoke up again, and I thought 
his voice was a little changed. 

“The gun!” said he. 

“I have thought of that,” said I, for I made sure 
he was thinking of a bombardment of the fort. “They 
could never get the gun ashore, and if they did, they 
could never haul it through the woods.” 

“Look astern, doctor,” replied the captain. 

We had entirely forgotten the long nine;^ and 
there, to our horror, were the five rogues busy about 
her, getting off her jacket, as they called the stout 
tarpaulin cover under which she sailed. Not only 
that, but it flashed into my mind at the same moment 
that the round shot and the powder for the gun had 
been left behind, and a stroke with an ax would put 


TREASURE ISLAND 


111 


it all into the possession of the evil ones aboard. 

“Israel was Flint’s gunner,” said Gray, hoarsely. 

At any risk, we put the boat’s head direct for the 
landing-place. By this time we had got so far out 
of the run of the current that we kept steerage-way 
even at our necessarily gentle rate of rowing, and I 
could keep her steady for the goal. But the worst of 
it was, that with the course I now held, we turned 
our broadside instead of our stern to the Hispaniola, 
and offered a target like a barn door. 

I could hear, as well as see, that brandy-faced ras- 
cal, Israel Hands, plumping down a round shot on the 
deck. 

“Who’s the best shot?” asked the captain. 

“Mr. Trelawney, out and away,” said I. 

“Mr. Trelawney, will you please pick me off one of 
those men, sir? Hands, if possible,” said the cap- 
tain. 

Trelawney was as cold as steel. He looked to the 
priming of his gun, 

“Now,” cried the captain, “easy with that gun, sir, 
or you’ll swamp the boat. All hands stand by to trim 
her when he aims.” 

The squire raised his gun, the rowing ceased, and 
we leaned over to the other side to keep the balance, 
and all was so nicely contrived that we did not ship 
a drop. 

They had the gun, by this time, slewed around upon 
the swivel, and Hands, who was at the muzzle, with 
the rammer, was, in consequence, the most exposed. 
However, we had no luck; for just as Trelawney 
fired, down he stooped, the ball whistling over him, 
and it was one of the other four who fell. 

The cry he gave was echoed, not only by his com- 
panions on board, but by a great number of voices 
from the shore, and looking in that direction I saw 
the other pirates trooping out from among the trees 
and tumbling into their places in the boats. 

“Here come the gigs, sir,” said I. 


112 


TREASURE ISLAND 


“Give way, then,” said the captain. “We mustn’t 
mind if we swamp her now. If we can’t get ashore, 
all’s up.” 

“Only one of the gigs is being manned, sir,” I 
added; “the crew of the other is most likely going 
round by shore to cut us off.” 

“They’ll have a hot run, sir,” returned the captain. 
“Jack ashore, you know. It’s not them I mind; it’s 
the round shot. Carpet bowls! My lady’s maid 
couldn’t miss. Tell us, squire, when you see the 
match, and we’ll hold water.” 

In the meantime we had been making headway at 
a good pace for a boat so overloaded, and we had 
shipped but little water in the process. We were 
now close in; thirty or forty strokes and we should 
beach her, for the ebb had already disclosed a narrow 
belt of sand below the clustering trees. The gig was 
no longer to be feared ; the little point had already 
concealed it from our eyes. The ebb-tide, which had 
so cruelly delayed us, was now making reparation, 
and delaying our assailants. The one source of 
danger was the gun. 

“If I durst,” said the captain, “I’d stop and pick 
off another man.” 

But it was plain that they meant nothing should 
delay their shot. They had never so much as looked 
at their fallen comrade, though he was not dead, and 
I could see him trying to crawl away. 

“Ready!” cried the squire. 

“Hold!” cried the captain, quick as an echo. 

And he and Redruth backed with a great heave 
that sent her stern bodily under the water. The re- 
port fell in at the same instant of time. This was the 
first that Jim heard, the sound of the squire’s shot 
not having reached him. When the ball passed, not 
one of us precisely knew, but I fancy it must have 
been over our heads, and that the wind of it may 
have contributed to our disaster. 

At any rate the boat sunk by the stern, quite gently. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


113 


in three feet of water, leaving the captain and myself, 
facing each other, on our feet. The other three took 
complete headers, and came up again, drenched and 
bubbling. 

So far there was no great harm. No lives were 
lost, and we could wade ashore in safety. But there 
were all our stores at the bottom, and, to make things 
worse, only two guns out of five remained in a state 
for service. Mine I had snatched from my knees, 
and held over my head, by a sort of instinct. As for 
the captain, he had carried his over his shoulder by 
a bandoleer,! and, like a wise man, lock uppermost. 
The other three had gone down with the boat. To 
add to our concern, we heard voices already drawing 
near us in the woods along shore; and we had not 
only the danger of being cut off from the stockade 
in our half-crippled state, but the fear before us 
whether, if Hunter and Joyce were attacked by half 
a dozen, they would have the sense and conduct to 
stand firm. Hunter was steady, that we knew; Joyce 
.was a doubtful case — a pleasant, polite man for a 
valet, and to brush one’s clothes, but not entirely 
fitted for a man of war. 

With all this in our minds, we waded ashore as 
fast as we could, leaving behind us the poor jolly- 
boat, and a good half of all our powder and pro- 
visions. 


CHAPTER XVIH 

NARRATIVE CONTINUED BY THE DOCTOR — ^END OF THE 
FIRST day’s fighting 

We made our best speed across the strip of wood 
that now divided us from the stockade, and at every 
step we took the voices of the buccaneers rang nearer. 
Soon we could hear their footfalls as they ran, and 


llh. TREASURE ISLAND ' 

the cracking of the branches as they breasted across 
a bit of thicket. 

I began to see we should have a brush for it in 
earnest, and looked to my priming. 

“Captain,” said I, “Trelawney is the dead shot. 
Give him your gun ; his own is useless.” 

They exchanged guns, and Trelawney, silent and 
cool, as he had been since the beginning of the bustle, 
hung a moment on his heel to see that all was fit for 
service. At the same time, observing Gray to be 
unarmed, I handed him my cutlass. It did all our 
hearts good to see him spit in his hand, knit his 
brows, and make the blade sing through the air. It 
was plain from every line of his body that our new* 
hand was worth his salt. 

Forty paces farther we came to the edge of the 
wood and saw the stockade in front of us. We 
struck the inclosure about the middle of the south 
side, and, almost at the same time, seven mutineers — 
Job Anderson, the boatswain, at their head — ap- 
peared in full cry at the southwestern corner. 

They paused, as if taken aback, and before they 
recovered, not only the squire and I, but Hunter and 
Joyce from the block-house, had time to fire. The 
four shots came in rather a scattering volley, but 
they did the business ; one of the enemy actually fell, 
and the rest, without hesitation, turned and plunged 
into the trees. 

After reloading we walked down the outside of 
the palisade to see to the fallen enemy. He was stone 
dead — shot through the heart. 

We began to rejoice over our good success, when 
just at that moment a pistol cracked in the bush, a 
ball whistled close past my ear, and poor Tom Red- 
ruth stumbled and fell his length on the ground. 
Both the squire and I returned the shot, but as we 
had nothing to aim at, it is probable we only wasted 
powder. Then we reloaded and turned our attention 
to poor Tom. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


115 


The captain and Gray were already examining^ 
him, and I saw with half an eye that all was over. 

I believe the readiness of our return volley had 
scattered the mutineers once more, for we were suf- 
fered without further molestation to get the poor old 
gamekeeper hoisted over the stockade, and carried, 
groaning and bleeding, into the log house. 

Poor old fellow! he had not uttered one word of 
surprise, complaint, fear,, or even acquiescence, from 
the very beginning of our troubles till now, when we 
had laid him down in the log house to die. He had 
lain like a Trojan behind his mattress in the gallery; 
he had followed every order silently, doggedly, and 
well; he was the oldest of our party by a score of 
years; and now, sullen, old, serviceable servant, it 
was he that was to die. 

The squire dropped down beside him on his knees 
and kissed his hand, crying like a child. 

“Be I going, doctor?” he asked. 

“Tom, my man,” said I, “you're going home.” 

“I wish I had had a lick at them with the gun first,” 
he replied. 

“Tom,” said the squire, “say you forgive me, won’t 
you ?” 

“Would that be respectful like, from me to you, 
squire?” was the answer. “Howsoever, so be it, 
amen !” 

After a little while of silence he said he thought 
somebody might read a prayer. “It’s the custom, 
sir,” he added, apologetically. And not long after, 
without another word, he passed away. 

In the meantime the captain, whom I had observed 
to be wonderfully swollen about the chest and pock- 
ets, had turned out a great many various stores — the 
British colors, a Bible, a coil of stoutish rope, pen, 
ink, the log-book, and pounds of tobacco. He had 
found a longish fir-tree lying felled and cleared in 
the inclosure, and, with the help of Hunter, he had 
set it up at the corner of the log-house where the 


116 


TREASURE ISLAND 


trunks crossed and made an angle. Then, climbing 
on the roof, he had with his own hand bent and run 
up the colors. 

This seemed mightily to relieve him. He reentered 
the log-house and set about counting up the stores, 
as if nothing else existed. But he had an eye on 
Tom’s passage for all that, and as soon as all was 
over came forward with another flag and reverently 
spread it on the body. 

“Don’t you take on, sir,” he said, shaking the 
squire’s hand. “All’s well with him; no fear for a 
hand that’s been shot down in his duty to captain 
and owner. It mayn’t be good divinity, but it’s a 
fact.” \ 

Then he pulled me aside. 

“Doctor Livesey,” he said, “in how many weeks do 
you and squire expect the consort?” 

I told him it was a question, not of weeks, but of 
months; that if we were not back by the end of 
August, Blandly was to send to find us, but neither 
sooner nor later. “You can calculate for yourself,” 
I said. 

“Why, yes,” returned the captain, scratching his 
head, “and making a large allowance, sir, for all 
the gifts of Providence, I should say we were pretty 
close hauled.” 

“How do you mean?” I asked. 

“It’s a pity, sir, we lost that second load. That’s 
what I mean,” replied the captain. “As for powder 
and shot, we’ll do. But the rations are short, very 
short — so short. Doctor Livesey, that we’re perhaps 
as well without that extra mouth.” 

And he pointed to the dead body under the flag. 

Just then, with a roar and a whistle, a round shot 
passed high above the roof of the log house and 
plumped far beyond us in the wood. 

“0-ho!” said the captain. “Blaze away! You’ve 
little enough powder already, my lads.” 

At the second trial the aim was better and the ball 


TREASURE ISLAND 


117 


descended inside the stockade, scattering a cloud of 
sand, but doing no further damage. 

“Captain,” said the squire, “the house is quite 
invisible from the ship. It must be the flag they are 
aiming at. Would it not be wiser to take it in?” 

“Strike my colors!” cried the captain. “No, sir, 
not I,” and as soon as he had said the words I think 
we all agreed with him. For it was not only a piece 
of stout, seamanly good feeling; it was good policy 
besides, and showed our enemies that we despised 
their cannonade. 

All through the evening they kept thundering 
away. Ball after ball flew over or fell short, or kicked 
up the sand in the inclosure; but they had to fire so 
high that the shot fell dead and buried itself in the 
soft sand. We had no ricochet to fear; and though 
one popped in through the roof of the log-house and 
out again through the floor, we soon got used to that 
sort of horse-play and minded it no more than cricket. 

“There is one thing good about all this,” observed 
the captain ; “the wood in front of us is likely clear. 
The ebb has made a good while; our stores should be 
uncovered. Volunteers to go and bring in pork.” 

Gray and Hunter were the first to come forward. 
Well armed, they stole out of the stockade, but it 
proved a useless mission. The mutineers were bolder 
than we fancied, or they put more trust in Israel’s 
gunnery, for four or five of them were busy carrying 
off our stores and wading out with them to one of the 
gigs that lay close by, pulling an oar or so to hold 
her steady against the current. Silver was in the 
stern-sheets in command, and every man of them 
was now provided with a musket from some secret 
magazine of their own. 

The captain sat down to his log, and here is the be- 
ginning of the entry: 

“Alexander Smollett, master; David Livesey, ship’s 
doctor; Abraham Gray, carpenter’s mate; John Trelaw- 
ney, owner; John Hunter and Richard Joyce, owner’s ser- 


118 


TREASURE ISLAND 


vants, landsmen — being all that is left faithful of the 
ship’s company — with stores for ten days at short rations, 
came ashore this day and flew British colors on the log- 
house in Treasure Island. Thomas Redruth, owner’s ser- 
vant, landsman, shot by the mutineers; James Hawkins, 
cabin-boy ” 

And at the same time I was wondering over poor 
Jim Hawkins’ fate. 

A hail on the land side. 

“Somebody hailing us,’’ said Hunter, who was on 
guard. 

“Doctor! squire! captain! Hallo, Hunter, is that 
you?” came the cries. 

And I ran to the door in time to see Jim pawkins, 
safe and sound, come climbing over the stockade. 


CHAPTER XIX 

NARRATIVE RESUMED BY JIM HAWKINS — THE GARRISON 
AT THE STOCKADE 

As soon as Ben Gunn saw the colors he came to a 
halt, stopped me by the arm, and sat down. 

“Now,” said he, “there’s your friends, sure 
enough.” 

“Far more likely it’s the mutineers,” I answered. 

“That!” he cried. “Why, in a place like this, where 
nobody puts in but gen’lemen of fortune. Silver 
would fly the Jolly Roger, you don’t make no doubt 
of that. No, that’s your friends. There’s been blows, 
too, and I reckon your friends has had the best of it; 
and here they are ashore in the old stockade, as was 
made years and years ago by Flint. Ah, he was the 
man to have a headpiece, was Flint! Barring rum, 
his match was never seen. ' He were afraid of none, 
not he; on’y Silver — Silver was that genteel.” 

“Well,” said I, “that may be so, and so be it; all 


/ TREASURE ISLAND 119 

the more reason that I should hurry on and join my 
friends.” 

“Nay, mate,” returned Ben, “not you. You’re a 
good boy, or I’m mistook; but you’re on’y a boy, 
all told. Now Ben Gunn is fly. Rum wouldn’t bring 
me there, where you’re going — not rum wouldn’t, 
till I see your born gen’leman, and gets it on his 
word of honor. And you won’t forget my words: 
'A precious sight’ (that’s what you’ll say), ‘a precious 
sight more confidence’ — and then nips him.” 

And he pinched me the third time with the same 
air of cleverness. 

“And when Ben Gunn is wanted you know where 
to find him, Jim. Just where you found him to-day. 
And him that comes is to have a white thing in his 
hand; and he’s to come alone. Oh! and you’ll say 
this : ‘Ben Gunn,’ says you, ‘has reasons of his own.’ ” 

“Well,” said I, “I believe I understand. You have 
something to propose, and you wish to see the squire 
or the doctor, and you’re to be found where I found 
you. Is that all?” 

“And when? says you,” he added. “Why, from 
about noon observation to about six bells.”^ 

“Good,” says I, “and now may I go?” 

“You won’t forget?” he inquired, anxiously. 
“Precious sight, and reasons of his own, says you. 
Reasons of his own; that’s the mainstay; as be- 
tween man and man. Well, then” — still holding me — 
“I reckon you can go, Jim. And Jim, if you was to see 
Silver, you wouldn’t go for to sell Ben Gunn? wild 
horses wouldn’t draw it from you? No, says you. 
And if them pirates came ashore, Jim, what would 
you say but there’d be widders in the morning?” 

Here he was interrupted by a loud report, and a 
cannon-ball came tearing through the trees and 
pitched in the sand, not a hundred yards from where 
we two were talking. The next moment each of us 
had taken to our heels in a different direction. 

For a good hour to come frequent reports shook 


120 


TREASURE ISLAND 


the island, and balls kept crashing through the woods. 
I moved from hiding-nlace to hiding-place, always 
pursued, or so it seemed to me, by these terrifying 
missiles. But toward the end of the bombardment, 
though still I durst not venture in the direction of 
the stockade, where the balls fell oftenest, I had 
begun, in a manner, to pluck up my heart again; 
and after a long detour to the east, crept down among 
the shore-side trees. 

The sun had just set, the sea breeze was rustling 
and tumbling in the woods, and ruffling the gray sur- 
face of the anchorage; the tide, too, was far out, 
and great tracts of sand lay uncovered; the air, 
after the heat of the day, chilled me through my 
jacket. 

The Hispaniola still lay where she had anchored; 
but, sure enough, there was the Jolly Roger — the 
black flag of piracy — flying from her peak. Even 
as I looked there came another red flash and another 
report, that sent the echoes clattering, and one more 
round shot whistled through the air. It was the last 
of the cannonade. 

I lay for some time watching the bustle which 
succeeded the attack. Men were demolishing some- 
thing vith axes on the beach near the stockade — the 
poor jolly-boat, I afterward discovered. Away, near 
the mouth of the river, a great fire was glowing 
among the trees, and between that point and the ship 
one of the gigs kept coming and going, the men, whom 
I had seen so gloomy, shouting at the oars like chil- 
dren. But there was a sound in their voices which 
suggested rum. 

At length I thought I might return toward the 
stockade. I was pretty far down on the low, sandy 
spiti that incloses the anchorage to the east, and is 
joined at half-water to Skeleton Island ; and now, as 
I rose to my feet, I saw, some distance farther down 
the spit, and rising from among low bushes, an iso- 
lated rock pretty high, and peculiarly white in color. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


121 


It occurred to me that this might be the white rock 
of which Ben Gunn had spoken, and that some day or 
other a boat might be wanted, and I should know 
where to look for one. 

Then I skirted among the woods until I had re- 
gained the rear, or shoreward side, of the stockade, 
and was soon warmly welcomed by the faithful party. 

I had soon told my story, and began to look about 
me. The log house was made of unsquared trunks 
of pine — roof, walls, and floor. The latter stood in 
several places as much as a foot or a foot and a half 
above the surface of the sand. There was a porch 
at the door, and under this porch the little spring 
welled up into an artificial basin of a rather odd 
kind — no other than a great ship’s kettle of iron, with 
the bottom knocked out, and sunk “to her bearings,” 
as the captain said, among the sand. 

Little had been left beside the frame-work of the 
house; but in one corner there was a stone slab laid 
down by way of hearth, and an old rusty iron basket 
to contain the fire. 

The slopes of the knoll and all the inside of the 
stockade had been cleared of timber to build the 
house, and we could see by the stumps what a fine 
and lofty grove had been destroyed. Most of the soil 
had been washed away or buried in drift after the 
removal of the trees; only where the streamlet ran 
down from the kettle a thick bed of moss and some 
ferns and little creeping bushes were still green 
among the sand. Very close around the stockade — 
too close for defense, they said — the wood still flour- 
ished high and dense, all of fir on the land side, but 
toward the sea with a large admixture of live-oaks. 

The cold evening breeze, of which I have spoken, 
whistled through every chink of the rude building, 
and sprinkled the floor with a continual rain of fine 
sand. There was sand in our eyes, sand in our teeth, 
sand in our suppers, sand dancing in the spring at 
the bottom of the kettle, for all the world like por- 


122 


TREASURE ISLAND 


ridge beginning to boil. Our chimney was a square 
hole in the roof ; it was but a little part of the smoke 
that found its way out, and the rest eddied about the 
house, and kept us coughing and piping the eye.^ 

Add to this that Gray, the new man, had his face 
tied up in a bandage for a cut he had got in breaking 
away from the mutineers; and that poor old Tom 
Redruth, still unburied, lay along the wall, stiff and 
stark, under the Union Jack. 

If we had been allowed to sit idle, we should all 
have fallen in the blues, but Captain Smollett was 
never the man for that. All hands were called up 
before him, and he divided us into watches. The 
doctor, and Gray, and I, for one ; the squire. Hunter, 
and Joyce upon the other. Tired as we all were, 
two were sent out for firewood, two more were sent 
to dig a grave for Redruth, the doctor was named 
cook, I was put sentry at the door, and the captain 
himself went from one to another, keeping up our 
spirits and lending a hand wherever it was wanted. 

From time to time the doctor came to the door for 
a little air and to rest his eyes, which were almost 
smoked out of his head, and whenever he did so, he 
had a word for me. 

“That man Smollett, “he said once, “is a better man 
than I am. And when I say that it means a deal, 
Jim.” 

Another time he came and was silent for awhile. 
Then he put his head on one side, and looked at. me. 

“Is this Ben Gunn a man?” he asked. 

“I do not know sir,” said I. “I am not very sure 
whether he’s sane.” 

“If there’s any doubt about the matter, he is,” re- 
turned the doctor. “A man who has been three years 
biting his nails on a desert island, Jim, can’t expect 
to appear as sane as you or me. It doesn’t lie in hu- 
man nature. Was it cheese you said he had a fancy 
for?” 

“Yes, sir, cheese,” I answered. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


12S 


“Well, Jim," says he, “just see the good that comes 
of being dainty in your food. You’ve seen my snuff- 
box, haven’t you? And you never saw me take snuff; 
the reason being that in my snuff-box I carry a piece 
of Parmesan cheese — a cheese made in Italy, very nu- 
tritious. Well, that’s for Ben Gunn !’’ 

Before supper was eaten we buried old Tom in the 
sand, and stood round him for awhile bare-headed in 
the breeze. A good deal of firewood had been got 
in, but not enough for the captain’s fancy, and he 
shook his head over it, and told us we “must get 
back to this to-morrow rather livelier.” Then, when 
we had eaten our pork, and each had a good stiff 
glass of brandy grog, the three chiefs got together 
in a corner to discuss our prospects. 

It appears they were at their wits’ end what to do, 
the stores being so low that we must have been 
starved into surrender long before help came. But 
our best hope, it was decided, was to kill off the 
buccaneers until they either hauled down their flag 
or ran away with the Hispaniola. From nineteen 
they were already reduced to fifteen, two others were 
wounded, and one, at least — the man shot beside the 
gun — severely wounded, if he were not dead. Every 
time we had a crack at them, we were to take it, sav- 
ing our own lives, with the extremest care. And, be- 
side that, we had two able allies — rum and the cli- 
mate. 

As for the first, though we were about half a mile 
away, we could hear them roaring and singing late 
into the night; and as for the second, the doctor 
staked his wig that, camped where they were in the 
marsh, and unprovided with remedies, the half of 
them would be on their backs before a week. 

“So,” he added, “if we are not all shot down first 
they’ll be glad to be packing in the schooner. It’s 
always a ship, and they can get to buccaneering 
again, I snppose.” 

“First ship that I ever lost,” said Captain Smollett. 


12U 


TREASURE ISLAND 


I was dead tired, as you may fancy, and when I got 
to sleep, which was not till after a great deal of 
tossing, I slept like a log of wood. 

The rest had long been up, and had already break- 
fasted and increased the pile of firewood by about 
half as much again, when I was awakened by a bustle 
and the sound of voices. 

“Flag of truce!” I heard someone say, and then, 
immediately after, with a cry of surprise, “Silver 
himself!” 

And, at that, up I jumped, and, rubbing my eyes, 
ran to a loop-hole in the wall. 


CHAPTER XX 
silver’s embassy 

Sure enough, there were two men just outside the 
stockade, one of them waving a white cloth; the 
other, no less a person than Silver himself, standing 
placidly by. 

It was still quite early, and the coldest morning 
that I think I ever was abroad in ; a chill that pierced 
into the marrow. The sky was bright and cloudless 
overhead, and the tops of the trees shone rosily in the 
sun. But where Silver stood with his lieutenant all 
was still in shadow, and they waded knee-deep in a 
low, white vapor, that had crawled during the night 
out of the morass. The chill and the vapor taken 
together told a poor tale of the island. It was 
plainly a damp, feverish, unhealthy spot. 

“Keep indoors, men,” said the captain. “Ten to 
one this is a trick.” 

Then he hailed the buccaneer. 

“Who goes? Stand, or we fire.” 

“Flag of truce!” cried Silver. 

The captain was in the porch, keeping himself 
carefully out of the way of a treacherous shot, should 
any be intended. He turned and spoke to us. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


125 


“Doctor’s watch on the lookout. Doctor Livesey, 
take the north side, if you please; Jim, the east; 
Gray, west. The watch below, all hands to load mus- 
kets. Lively, men, and careful.” 

And then he turned again to the mutineers. 

“And what do you want with your flag of truce?” 
he cried. 

This time it was the other man who replied. 

“Cap’n Silver, sir, to come on board and make 
terms,” he shouted. 

“Cap’n Silver! Don’t know him. Who’s he?” 
cried the captain. And we could hear him adding to 
himself: “Cap’n, is it? My heart, and here’s pro- 
motion !” 

Long John answered for himself. 

“Me, sir. These poor lads have chosen me cap’n, 
after your desertion, sir” — laying a particular em- 
phasis upon the word “desertion.” “We’re willing 
to submit, if we can come to terms, and no bones 
about it. All I ask is your word, Cap’n Smollett, 
to let me safe and sound out of this here stockade, 
and one minute to get out o’ shot before a gun is 
fired.” 

“My man,” said Captain Smollett, “I have not 
the slightest desire to talk to you. If you wish to 
talk to me, you can come, that’s all. If there’s any 
treachery, it’ll be on your side, and the Lord help 
you.” 

“That’s enough, cap’n,” shouted Long John, 
cheerily. “A word from you’s enough. I know a 
gentleman, and you may lay to that.” 

We could see the man who carried the flag of truce 
attempting to hold Silver back. Nor was that won- 
derful, seeing how cavalier had been the captain’s 
answer. But Silver laughed at him aloud, and 
slapped him on the back, as if the idea of alarm had 
been absurd. Then he advanced to the stockade, 
threw over'his crutch, got a leg up, and with great 


126 


TREASURE ISLAND 


vigor and skill succeeded in surmounting the fence 
and dropping safely to the other side. 

I will confess that I was far too much taken up 
with what was going on to be of the slightest use 
as sentry; indeed, I had already deserted my eastern 
loop-hole and crept up behind the captain, who had 
now seated himself on the threshold, with his elbows 
on his knees, his head in his hands, and his eyes fixed 
on the water as it bubbled out of the old iron kettle 
in the sand. He was whistling to himself, “Come, 
Lasses and Lads.” 

Silver had terrible hard work getting up the knoll. 
What with the steepness of the incline, the thick 
tree-stumps, and the soft sand, he and his crutch 
were as helpless as a ship in stays. But he stuck to 
it like a man in silence, and at last arrived before 
the captain, whom he saluted in the handsomest style. 
He was tricked out in his best; an immense blue 
coat, thick with brass buttons, hung as low ^s to his 
knees, and a fine laced hat was set on the back of his 
head. 

“Here you are, my man,” said the captain, raising 
his head. “You had better sit down.” 

“You ain’t a-going to let me inside, cap’n?” com- 
plained Long John. “It’s a main^ cold morning, to 
be sure, sir, to sit outside upon the sand.” 

Why, Silver,” said the captain, “if you had pleased 
to be an honest man you might have been sitting in 
your galley. It’s your own doing. You’re either my 
ship’s cook — and then you were treated handsome — 
or Cap’n Silver, a common mutineer and pirate, and 
then you can go hang!” 

“Well, well, cap’n,” returned the sea-cook, sitting 
down as he was bidden on the sand, “you’ll have to 
give me a hand up again, that’s all. A sweet, pretty 
place you have of it here. Ah, there’s Jim! The 
top of the morning to you, Jim. Doctor, here’s my 
service. Why, there you all are together like a happy 
family, in a manner of speaking.” 


TREASURE ISLAND 


127 


“If you have anything to say, my man, better say 
it,” said the captain. 

“Right you are, Cap’n Smollett,” replied Silver. 
“Booty is dooty, to be sure. Well, now, you look 
here, that was a good lay of yours last night. I don’t 
deny it was a good lay. Some of you are pretty handy 
with a handspike-end. And I’ll not deny neither but 
what some of my people was shook — may be all was 
shook; may be I was shook myself; may be that’s 
why I’m here for terms. But you mark me, cap’n. 
it won’t do twice, by thunder! We’ll have to do 
sentry go, and ease off a point or so on the rum. 
May be you think we were all a sheet in the wind’s 
eye. But I’ll tell you I was sober; I was on’y dog 
tired; and if I’d awoke a second sooner I’d a caught 
you at the act, I would. He wasn’t dead when I got 
round to him, not he.” 

“Well?” says Captain Smollett, as cool as can be. 

All that Silver said was a riddle to him, but you 
Avould never have guessed it from his tone. As for 
me, I began to have an inkling. Ben Gunn’s last 
words came back to my mind. I began to suppose 
that he had paid the buccaneers a visit while they all 
lay drunk together round their fire, and I reckoned up 
with glee that we had only fourteen enemies to deal 
with. 

“Well, here it is,” said Silver. “We want that 
treasure, and we’ll have it — that’s our point! You 
would just as soon save your lives, I reckon; and 
that’s yours. You have a chart, haven’t you?” 

“That’s as may be,” replied the captain. 

“Oh, well, you have, I know that,” returned Long 
John. “You needn’t be so husky with a man; there 
ain’t a particle of service in that, and you may lay 
to it. What I mean is, we want your chart. Now, I 
never meant you no harm, myself.” 

“That won’t do with me, my man,” interrupted 
the captain. '’‘We know exactly what you meant to do, 
and we don’t care ; for now, you see, you can’t do it.” 


128 


TREASURE ISLAND 


And the captain looked at him calmly, and pro- 
ceeded to fill a pipe. 

“If Abe Gray — ” Silver broke out. 

“Avast there!” cried Mr. Smollett. “Gray told 
me nothing, and I asked him nothing; and what’s 
more I would see you and him and this whole island 
blown clean out of the water into blazes first. So 
there’s my mind for you, my man, on that.” 

This little whiff of temper seemed to cool Silver 
down. He had been growing nettled before, but now 
he pulled himself together. 

“Like enough,” said he. “I would set no limits to 
what gentlemen might consider ship-shape, or might 
not, as the case were. And, seein’ as how you are 
about to take a pipe, cap’n, I’ll make so free as do 
likewise.” 

And he filled a pipe and lighted it; and the two 
men sat silently smoking for quite awhile, now look- 
ing each other in the face, now stopping their to- 
bacco, now leaning forward to spit. It was as good 
as the play to see them. 

“Now,” resumed Silver, “here it is. You give us 
the chart to get the treasure by, and drop shooting 
poor seamen, and stoving of their heads in while 
asleep. You do that and we’ll offer you a choice. 
Either you come aboard along of us, once the treasure 
shipped, and then I’ll give you my affy-davy, upon 
my word of honor, to clap you somewhere safe ashore. 
Or, if that ain’t your fancy, some of my hands, being 
rough, and having old scores, on account of hazing, 
then you can stay here, you can. We’ll divide stores 
with you, man for man; and I’ll give my affy-davy, 
as before, to speak the first ship I si^- md send ’em 
here to pick you up. Now you’ll owi. tnat’s talking. 
Handsomer you couldn’t look to get, not you. And I 
hope” — raising his voice — “that all hands in this here 
block-house will overhaul my words, for what is spoke 
to one is spoke to all.” 

Captain Smollett rose from his seat and knocked 


TREASURE ISLAND 129 

out the ashes of his pipe in the palm of his left hand. 

“Is that all?” he asked. 

“Every last -word, by thunder!” answered John. 
“Refuse that and you’ve seen the last of me but 
musket-balls.” 

“Very good,” said the captain. “Now you’ll hear 
me. If you’ll come up one by one, unarmed. I’ll en- 
gage to clap you all in irons, and to take you home 
to a fair trial in England. If you won’t, my name is 
Alexander Smollett, I’ve flown my sovereign’s colors, 
and I’ll see you all to Davy Jones. ^ You can’t find 
the treasure. You can’t sail the ship — there’s not a 
man among you fit to sail the ship. You can’t fight 
us — Gray, there, got away from five of you. Your 
ship’s in irons. Master Silver; you’re on a lee-shore, 
and so you’ll find. I stand here and tell you so, and 
they’re the last good words you’ll get from me; for, 
in the name of heaven. I’ll put a bullet in your back 
when next I meet you. Tramp, my lad. Bundle out 
of this, please, hand over hand, and double quick.” 

Silver’s face was a picture ; his eyes started in his 
head with wrath. He shook the fire out of his pipe. 

“Give me a hand up!” he cried. 

“Not I,” returned the captain. 

“Who’ll give me a hand up?” he roared. 

Not a man among us moved. Growling the foul- 
est imprecations, he crawled along the sand till he 
got hold of the porch and could hoist himself again 
upon his crutch. Then he spat into the spring. 

“There!” he cried, “that’s what I think of ye. 
Before an hour’s out. I’ll stove in your old block- 
house like a rum puncheon. Laugh, by thunder, 
laugh! B°"',^ an hour’s out, ye’ll laugh upon the 
other side.r.* ,hem that die’ll be the lucky ones.” 

And with a dreadful oath he stumbled off, plowed 
down the sand, was helped across the stockade, after 
four or five failures, by the man with a flag of truce, 
and disappeared in an instant afterward among the 
trees. 


130 


TREASURE ISLAND 


. CHAPTER XXI 
THE ATTACK 

As soon as Silver disappeared, the captain, who 
had been closely watching him, turned toward the 
interior of the house, and found not a man of us 
at his post but Gray. It was the first time we had ever 
seen him angry. 

“Quarters!” he roared. And then, as we all slunk 
back to our places, “Gray,” he said, “I’ll put your 
name in the log; you’ve stood by your duty like a 
seaman. Mr. Trelawney, I’m surprised at you, sir. 
Doctor, I thought you had worn the king’s coat! If 
that was how you served at Fontenoy, sir, you’d have 
been better in your berth.” 

The doctor’s watch were all back at their loop- 
holes, the rest were busy loading the spare muskets, 
and everyone with a red face, you may be certain, 
and a flea in his ear, as the saying is. 

The captain looked on for awhile in silence. Then 
he spoke. 

“My lads,” he said, “I’ve given Silver a broadside. 
I pitched it in red-hot on purpose; and before the 
hour’s out, as he said, we shall be boarded. We’re 
outnumbered, I needn’t tell you that, but we fight in 
shelter; and, a minute ago, I should have said we 
fought with discipline. I’ve no manner of doubt 
that we can drub them, if you choose.” 

Then he went the rounds, and saw, as he said, that 
all was clear. 

On the two short sides of the house, east and west, 
there were only two loop-holes; on the south side 
where the porch was, two again ; and on the north 
side, five. There was a round score of muskets for 
the seven of us; the firewood had been built into 
four piles — tables, you might say — one about the 
middle of each side, and on each of these tables some 
ammunition and four loaded muskets were laid ready 


TREASURE ISLAND 


131 


to the hand of the defenders. In the middle, the cut- 
lasses lay ranged. 

“Toss out the fire,” said the captain; “the chill 
‘ is past, and we mustn’t have smoke in our eyes.” 

The iron fire-basket was carried bodily out by Mr. 
Trelawney, and the embers smothered among sand. 

“Hawkins hasn’t had his breakfast. Hawkins, help 
yourself, and back to your post to eat it,” continued 
Captain Smollett. “Lively, now, my lad ; you’ll want 
it before you’ve done. Hunter, serve out a round of 
brandy to all hands.” 

And while this was going on the captain completed, 
in his own mind, the plan of the defense. 

“Doctor, you will take the door,” he resumed. 
“See and don’t expose yourself; keep within, and fire 
through the porch. Hunter, take the east side, there. 
Joyce, you stand by the west, my man. Mr. Trelaw- 
ney, you are the best shot — you and Gray will take 
this long north side, with the five loop-holes; it’s 
there the danger is. If they can get up to it, and 
fire in upon us through our own ports, things would 
begin to look dirty. Hawkins, neither you nor I are 
much account at the shooting; we’ll stand by to load 
and bear a hand.” 

As the captain had said, the chill was past. As soon 
as the sun had climbed above our girdle of trees, 
it fell with all its force upon the clearing, and drank 
up the vapors at a draught. Soon the sand was 
baking, and the resin melting in the logs of the block- 
house. Jackets and coats were flung aside; shirts 
were thrown open at the neck, and rolled up to the 
shoulders; and we stood there, each at his post, in 
a fever of heat and anxiety. 

An hour passed away. 

“Hang them!” said the captain. “This is as dull 
as the doldrums.^ Gray, whistle for a wind.” 

And just at that moment came the first news of the 
attack. 


132 


TREASURE ISLAND 


“If you please, sir,” said Joyce, “if I see anyone, 
am I to fire ?” 

“I told you so!” cried the captain. 

“Thank you, sir,” returned Joyce, with the same • 
quiet civility. 

Nothing followed for a time, but the remark had 
set us all on the alert, straining ears and eyes — the 
musketeers with their pieces balanced in their hands, 
the captain out in the middle of the block-house, with 
his mouth very tight and a frown on his face. 

So some seconds passed, till suddenly Joyce 
whipped up his musket and fired. The report had 
scarcely died away ere it was repeated and repeated 
from without in a scattering volley, shot behind shot, 
like a string of geese, from every side of the in- 
closure. Several bullets struck the log house, but 
not one entered; and, as the smoke cleared away 
and vanished, the stockade and the woods around it 
looked as quiet and empty as before. Not a bough 
waved, not the gleam of a musket-barrel betrayed 
the presence of our foes. 

“Did you hit your man?” asked the captain. 

“No, sir,” replied Joyce. “I believe not, sir.” 

“Next best thing to tell the truth,” muttered Cap- 
tain Smollett. “Load his gun, Hawkins. How many 
should you say there were on your side, doctor?” 

“I know precisely,” said Doctor Livesey. “Three 
shots were fired on this side. I saw the three flashes 
— two close together — one farther to the west.” 

“Three!” repeated the captain. “And how many 
on yours, Mr. Trelawney?” 

But this was not so easily answered. There had 
come many from the north — seven, by the squire’s 
computation ; eight or nine, according to Gray. 
From the east and west only a single shot had been 
fired. It was plain, therefore, that the attack would 
be developed from the north, and that on the other 
three sides we were only to be annoyed by a show of 
hostilities. But Captain Smollett made no change 


TREASURE ISLAND 


1S3 


in his arrangements. If the mutineers succeeded in 
crossing the stockade, he urged, they would take 
possession of any unprotected loop-hole, and shoot 
us down like rats in our own stronghold. 

Nor had we much time left to us for thought. 
Suddenly, with a loud huzza, a little cloud of pirates 
leaped from the woods on the north side, and ran 
straight on the stockade. At the same moment, the 
fire was once more opened from the woods, and a 
rifle-ball sung through the doorway, and knocked 
the doctor’s musket into bits. 

The boarders swarmed over the fence like monkeys. 
Squire and Gray fired again and yet again ; three men 
fell, one forward into the inclosure, two back on the 
outside. But of these, one was evidently more fright- 
ened than hurt, for he was on his feet again in a 
crack, and instantly disappeared among the trees. 

Two had bit the dust, one had fled, four had made 
good their footing inside our defenses; while from 
the shelter of the woods seven or eight men, each 
evidently supplied with several muskets, kept up a 
hot though useless fire on the log house. 

The four who had boarded made straight before 
them for the building, shouting as they ran, and the 
men among the trees shouted back to encourage them. 
Several shots were fired, but such was the hurry of 
the marksmen, that not one appeared to have taken 
effect. In a moment the four pirates had swarmed 
up the mound and were upon us. 

The head of Job Anderson, the boatswain, appear- 
ed at the middle loop-hole. 

“At ’em, all hands — all hands!” he roared, in a 
voice of thunder. 

At the same moment another pirate grasped Hunt- 
er’s musket by the muzzle, wrenched it from his 
hands, plucked it through the loop-hole, and, with 
one stunning blow, laid the poor fellow senseless on 
the floor. Meanwhile a third, running unharmed all 


TREASURE ISLAND 


ISi 

round the house, appeared suddenly in the doorway, 
and fell with his cutlass on the doctor. 

Our position was utterly reversed. A moment 
since we were firing, under cover, at an exposed 
enemy; now it was we who lay uncovered, and could 
not return a blow. 

The log house was full of smoke, to which we 
owed our comparative safety. Cries and confusion, 
the flashes and reports of pistol-shots, and one loud 
groan, rang in my ears. 

“Out, lads, out! and fight ’em in the open! Cut- 
lasses!” cried the captain. 

I snatched a cutlass from the pile, and someone, at 
the same time snatching another, gave me a cut 
across the knuckles which I hardly felt. I dashed out 
of the door into the clear sunlight. Someone was 
close behind, I knew not whom. Right in front, the 
doctor was pursuing his assailant down the hill, and, 
just as my eyes fell upon him, beat down his guard, 
and sent him sprawling on his back, with a great 
slash across, his face. 

“Round the house, lads! round the house !” cried 
the captain, and even in the hurly-burly I perceived 
a change in his voice. 

Mechanically I obeyed, turned eastward, and, with 
my cutlass raised, ran round the corner of the house. 
Next moment I was face to face with Anderson. He 
roared aloud, and his hanger went up above his head, 
flashing in the sunlight. I had not time to be afraid, 
but, as the blow still hung impending, leaped in a 
trice upon one side, and missing my foot in the soft 
sand, rolled headlong down the slope. 

When I had first sallied from the door, the other 
mutineers had been already swarming up the palisade 
to make an end of us. One man, in a red night-cap, 
with his cutlass in his mouth, had even got upon the 
top and thrown a leg across. Well, so short had 
been the interval, that when I found my feet again 
all was in the same posture, the fellow with the red 


TREASURE ISLAND 


135 


night-cap still halfway over, another still just show- 
ing his head above the top of the stockade. And 
yet, in this breath of time, the fight was over, and the 
victory ours. 

Gray, following close behind me, had cut down the 
big boatswain ere he had time to recover from his 
lost blow. Another had been shot at a loop-hole in 
the very act of firing into the house, and now lay in 
agony, the pistol still smoking in his hand. A third, 
as I had seen, the doctor had disposed of at a blow. 
Of the four who had scaled the palisade, one only re- 
mained unaccounted for, and he, having left his cut- 
lass on the field, was now clambering out again with 
the fear of death upon him. 

“Fire — fire from the house!” cried the doctor. 
“And you, lads, back into cover.” 

But his words were unheeded, no shot was fired, 
and the last boarder made good his escape and dis- 
appeared with the rest into the wood. In three sec- 
onds nothing remained of the attacking party but the 
five who had fallen, four on the inside and one on 
the outside of the palisade. 

The doctor and Gray and I ran full speed for 
shelter. The survivors would soon be back where 
they had left their muskets, and at any moment the 
fire might recommence. 

The house was by this time somewhat cleared of 
smoke, and we saw at a glance the price we had paid 
for victory. Hunter lay beside his loop-hole, 
stunned; Joyce, by his, shot through the head, never 
to move again, while right in the center the squire 
was supporting the captain, one as pale as the other. 

“The captain’s wounded,” said Mr. Trelawney. 

“Have they run?” asked Mr. Smollett. 

“All that could, you may be bound,” returned the 
doctor; “but there’s five of them will never run 
again.” 

“Five!” cried the captain. “Come, that’s better. 
Five against three leaves us four to nine. That’s 


136 


TREASURE ISLAND 


better odds than we had at starting. We were seven 
to nineteen then, or thought we were, and that’s as 
bad to bear.”* 

*The mutineers were soon only eight in number, for 
the man shot by Mr. Trelawney on board the schooner 
died that same evening of his wound. But this was, of 
course, not known till after by the faithful party. 



SCENE FROM PHOTOPLAY ** TREASURE JSLANI/* Courtesy of Paramount PicUtrea 




PART V 

MY SEA ADVENTURE 


CHAPTER XXII 

HOW I BEGAN MY SEA ADVENTURE 

There was no return of the mutineers — not so 
much as another shot out of the woods. They had 
“got their rations for that day,” as the captain put 
it, and we had the place to ourselves and a quiet time 
to overhaul the wounded and get dinner. Squire 
and I cooked outside, in spite of the danger, and even 
outside we could hardly tell what we were at, for the 
horror of the loud groans that reached us from the 
doctor’s patients. 

Out of the eight men who had fallen in the action 
only three still breathed — that one of the pirates who 
had been shot at the loop-hole. Hunter, and Captain 
Smollett — and of these the first two were as good as 
dead; the mutineer, indeed, died under the doctor’s 
knife, and Hunter, do what we could, never recov- 
ered consciousness in this world. He lingered all 
day, breathing loudly like the old buccaneer at home 
in his apoplectic fit; but the bones of his chest had 
been crushed by the blow, and his skull fractured in 
falling, and some time in the following night, without 
sign or sound, he went to his Maker. 

As for the captain, his wounds were grievous in- 
deed, but not dangerous. No organ was fatally in- 
jured. Anderson’s ball — for it was Job that shot him 
first — had broken his shoulder-blade and touched the 
lung, not badly; the second had only torn and dis- 
placed some muscles in the calf. He was sure to re- 
cover, the doctor said, but in the meantime, and for 


TREASURE ISLAND 


139 


weeks to come, he must not walk or move his arm, nor 
so much as speak when he could help it. 

My own accidental cut across the knuckles was a 
flea-bite. Doctor Livesey patched it up with plaster, 
and pulled my ears for me into the bargain. 

After dinner the squire and the doctor sat by the 
captain’s side awhile in consultation; and when they 
had talked to their hearts’ content, it being then a 
little past noon, the doctor took up his hat and 
pistols, girt on a cutlass, put the chart in his pocket, 
and with a musket over his shoulder, crossed the pali- 
sade on the north side and set off briskly through 
the trees. 

Gray and I were sitting together at the far end of 
the block-house, to be out of ear-shot of our officers, 
consulting, and Gray took his pipe out of his mouth 
and fairly forgot to put it back again, so thunder- 
struck he was at this occurrence. 

“Why, in the name of Davy Jones,” said he, “is 
Doctor Livesey mad?” 

“Why, no,” says I. “He’s about the last of this 
crew for that, I take it.” 

“Well, shipmate,” said Gray, “mad he may not be, 
but if he’s not, mark my words, I am.” 

“I take it,” replied I, “the doctor has his idea, and 
if I am right, he’s going now to see Ben Gunn.” 

I was right, as appeared later; but in the mean- 
time, the house being stifling hot, and the little patch 
of sand inside the palisade ablaze with midday sun, 
I began to get another thought into my head, which 
was not by any means so right. What I began to do 
was to envy the doctor, walking in the cool shadow of 
the woods, with the birds about him and the pleasant 
smell of the pines, while I sat grilling, with my 
clothes stuck to the hot resin, and so much blood 
about me, and so many poor dead bodies lying all 
around, that I took a disgust of the place that was 
almost as strong as fear. 

All the time I was washing out the block-house, and 


140 


TREASURE ISLAND 


then washing up the things from dinner, this disgust 
and envy kept growing stronger and stronger, till at 
last, being near a bread-bag, and no one then ob- 
serving me, I took the first step toward my escapade 
and filled both pockets of my coat with biscuit. 

I was a fool, if you like, and certainly I was going 
to do a foolish, overbold act, but I was determined to 
do it with all the precautions in my power. These 
biscuits, should anything befall me, would keep me 
at least from starving till far on in the next day. 

The next thing I laid hold of was a brace of pistols, 
and as I already had a powder-horn and bullets, I 
felt myself well supplied with arms. 

As for the scheme I had in my head, it was not a 
bad one in itself. It was to go down the sandy spit 
that divides the anchorage on the east from the open 
sea, find the white rock I had observed last evening, 
and ascertain whether it was there or not that Ben 
Gunn had hidden his boat — a thing quite worth doing, 
as I still believe. But as I was certain I should not 
be allowed to leave the inclosure, my only plan was 
to take French leave and slip out when nobody was 
watching, and that was so bad a way of doing it as 
made the thing itself wrong. But I was only a boy 
and I had made my mind up. 

Well, as things at last fell out, I found an admi- 
rable opportunity. The squire and Gray were busy 
helping the captain with his bandages; the coast 
was clear; I made a bolt for it over the stockade and 
into the thickest of the trees, and before my absence 
was observed I was out of cry of my companions. 

This was my second folly, far worse than the first, 
as I left but two sound men to guard the house; but, 
like the first, it was a help toward saving all of us. 

I took my way straight for the east coast of the 
island, for I was determined to go down the sea side 
of the spit to avoid all chance of observation from 
the anchorage. It was already late in the afternoon, 
although still warm and sunny. As I continued to 


TREASURE ISLAND 


HI 

thread the tall woods I could hear from far before 
me not only the continuous thunder of the surf, but a 
certain tossing of foliage and grinding of boughs 
which showed me the sea breeze had set in higher 
than usual. Soon cool draughts of air began to 
reach me, and a few steps farther I came forth into 
the open borders of the grove and saw’ the sea lying 
blue and sunny to the horizon and the surf tumbling 
and tossing its foam along the beach. 

I have never seen the sea quiet round Treasure 
Island. The sun might blaze overhead, the air be 
without a breath, the surface smooth and blue, but 
still these great rollers would be running along all 
the external coast, thundering and thundering by day 
and night, and I scarce believe there is one spot in 
the island where a man would be out of ear-shot of 
their noise. 

I walked along beside the surf with great enjoy- 
ment, till, thinking I was now got far enough to the 
south, I took the cover of some thick bushes and 
crept warily up to the ridge of the spit. 

Behind me was the sea, in front the anchorage. 
The sea breeze, as though it had the sooner blown 
itself out by its unusual violence, was already at an 
end; it had been succeeded by light, variable airs 
from the south and southeast, carrying great banks 
of fog; and the anchorage, under lee of Skeleton 
Island, lay still and leaden as when first we entered 
it. The Hispaniola, in that unbroken mirror, was 
exactly portrayed from the truck^ to the water-line, 
the Jolly Roger hanging from her peak. 

Alongside lay one of the gigs, Silver in the stern- 
sheets — him I could always recognize — while a couple 
of men were leaning over the stern bulwarks, one of 
them with a red cap — the very rogue that I had seen 
some hours before stride-legs upon the palisade. Ap- 
parently they were talking and laughing, though at 
that distance — upward of a mile — I could of course 
hear no word of what was said. All at once there 


TREASURE ISLAND 


U2 

began the most horrid, unearthly screaming, which 
at first startled me badly ; though I had soon remem- 
bered the voice of Captain Flint, and even thought I 
could make out the bird by her bright plumage as she 
sat perched upon her master’s wrist. 

Soon after the jolly-boat shoved off and pulled for 
shore, and the man with the red cap and his comrade 
went below by the cabin companion. 

Just about the same time the sun had gone down 
behind the Spy-glass, and as the fog was collecting 
rapidly, it began to grow dark in earnest. I saw I 
must lose no time if I were to find the boat that 
evening. 

The white rock, visible enough above the brush, 
was still some eighth of a mile farther down the spit, 
and it took me a goodish while to get up with it, 
crawling, often on all-fours, among the scrub. Night 
had almost come when I laid my hand on its rough 
sides. Right below it there was an exceedingly small 
hollow of green turf, hidden by banks and a thick 
underwood about knee-deep, that grew there very 
plentifully; and in the center of the dell, sure 
enough, a little tent of goat-skins, like what the gyp- 
sies carry about with them in England. 

I dropped into the hollow, lifted the side of the 
tent, and there was Ben Gunn’s boat — home-made if 
ever anything was home-made — a rude, lop-sided 
framework of tough wood, and stretched upon that 
a covering of goat-skin, with the hair inside. The 
thing was extremely small, even for me,^ and I can 
hardly imagine that it could have floated with, a full- 
sized man. There was one thwart^ set as low as pos- 
sible, a kind of stretcher in the bows, and a double 
paddle for propulsion. 

I had not then seen a coracle,^ such as the ancient 
Britons made, but I have seen one since, and I can 
give you no fairer idea of Ben Gunn’s boat than by 
saying it was like the first and the worst coracle ever 
made by man. But the great advantage of the cor- 


TREASURE ISLAND US 

acle it certainly possessed, for it was exceedingly 
light and portable. 

Well, now that I had found the boat, you would 
have thought I had had enough of truantry for once; 
but in the meantime I had taken another notion, and 
become so obstinately fond of it that I would have 
carried it out, I believe, in the teeth of Captain 
Smollett himself. This was to slip out under cover 
of the night, cut the Hispaniola adrift, and let her go 
ashore where she fancied. I had quite made up my 
mind that the mutineers, after their repulse of the 
morning, had nothing nearer their hearts than to up 
anchor and away to sea; this, I thought, it would be 
a fine thing to prevent, and now that I had seen how 
they left their watchman unprovided with a boat, I 
thought it might be done with little risk. 

Down I sat to wait for darkness, and made a hearty 
meal of biscuit. It was a night out of ten thousand 
for my purpose. The fog had now buried all heaven. 
As the last rays of daylight dwindled and disap- 
peared, absolute blackness settled down on Treasure 
Island. And when, at last, I shouldered the coracle, 
and groped my way stumblingly out of the hollow 
where I had supped, there were but two points visi- 
ble on the whole anchorage. 

One was the great fire on shore, by which the de- 
feated pirates lay carousing in the swamp. The 
other, a mere blur of light upon the darkness, in- 
dicated the position of the anchored ship. She had 
swung round to the ebb — her bow was now toward 
me — the only lights on board were in the cabin ; and 
what I saw was merely a reflection on the fog of the 
strong rays that flowed from the stern window. 

The ebb had already run some time, and I had to 
wade through the long belt of swampy sand, where I 
sunk several times above the ankle, before I came to 
the edge of the retreating water, and wading a little 
way in, with some strength and dexterity, set my 
coracle, keel downward, on the surface. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


lU 


CHAPTER XXIII 

THE EBB-TIDE RUNS 

The coracle — as I had ample reason to know be- 
fore I was done with her — was a very safe boat for 
a person of my height and weight, both buoyant and 
clever in a seaway; but she was the most cross- 
grained, lop-sided craft to manage. Do as you 
pleased, she always made more leeway than anything 
else, and turning round and round was the maneuver 
she was best at. Even Ben Gunn himself has ad- 
mitted that she was “queer to handle till you knew 
her way.” 

Certainly I did not know her way. She turned in 
every direction but the one I was bound to go; the 
most part of the time we were broadside on, and I am 
very sure I never should have made the ship at all 
but for the tide. By good fortune, paddle as I 
pleased, the tide was still sweeping me down; and 
there lay the Hispaniola right in the fair way, hardly 
to be missed. 

First she loomed before me like a blot of something 
yet blacker than darkness, then her spars^ and hulP 
began to take shape, and the next moment, as it 
seemed (for the farther I went the brisker grew the 
current of the ebb), I was alongside of her hawser,® 
and had laid hold. 

The hawser was as taut as a bowstring — so strong 
she pulled upon her anchor. All round the hull, in 
the blackness, the rippling current bubbled and chat- 
tered like a little mountain stream. One cut with my 
sea gully, and the Hispaniola would go humming 
down the tide. 

So far so good ; but it next occurred to my recollec- 
tion that a taut hawser, suddenly cut, is a thing as 
dangerous as a kicking horse. Ten to one, if I were 
so foolhardy as to cut the Hispaniola from her an- 


TREASURE ISLAND U5 

chor, I and the coracle would be knocked clean out of 
the water. 

This brought me to a full stop, and if fortune had 
not again particularly favored me, I should have had 
to abandon my design. But the light airs which had 
begun blowing from the southeast and south had 
hauled round after nightfall into the southwest. Just 
while I was meditating, a puff came, caught the 
Hispaniola, and forced her up into the current; and, 
to my great joy, I felt the hawser slacken in my 
grasp, and the hand by which I held it dip for a 
second under water. 

With that I made my mind up, took out my gully, 
opened it with my teeth, and cut one strand after 
another, till the vessel swung by two. Then I lay 
quiet, waiting to sever these last when the strain 
should be once more lightened by a breath of wind. 

All this time I had heard the sound of loud voices 
from the cabin ; but, to say truth, my mind had been 
so entirely taken up with other thoughts that I had 
scarcely given ear. Now, however, when I had noth- 
ing else to do, I began to pay more heed. 

One I recognized for the cockswain’s, Israel Hands, 
that had been Flint’s gunner in former days. The 
other was, of course, my friend of the red night-cap. 
Both men were plainly the worse of drink, and they 
were still drinking; for, even while I was listening, 
one of them, with a drunken cry, opened the stern 
window and threw out something, which I divined to 
be an empty bottle. But they were not only tipsy; it 
was plain that they were furiously angry. Oaths 
flew like hailstones, and every now and then there 
came forth such an explosion as I thought was sure 
to end in blows. But each time the quarrel passed 
off, and the voices grumbled lower for awhile, until 
the next crisis came, and, in its turn, passed away 
without result. 

On shore I could see the glow of the great camp- 
fire burning warmly through the shore-side trees. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


146 

Someone was singing a dull, old, droning sailor’s 
song, with a droop and a quaver at the end of every 
verse, and seemingly no end to it at all but the pa- 
tience of the singer. I had heard it on the voyage 
more than once, and remembered these words : 

**But one man of the crew alive. 

What put to secu with seventy-five” 

And I thought it was a ditty rather too dolefully 
appropriate for a company that had met such cruel 
losses in the morning. But, indeed, from what I 
saw, all these buccaneers were as callous as the sea 
they sailed on. 

At last the breeze came; the schooner sidled and 
drew nearer in the dark; I felt the hawser slacken 
once more, and with a good, tough effort, cut the last 
fibers through. 

The breeze had but little action on the coracle, and 
I was almost instantly swept against the bows of the 
Hispaniola. At the same time the schooner began 
to turn upon her heel, spinning slowly, end for end, 
across the current. 

I wrought like a fiend, for I expected every mo- 
ment to be swamped; and since I found I could not 
push the coracle directly off, I now shoved straight 
astern. At length I was clear of my dangerous 
neighbor, and just as I gave the last impulsion, my 
hands came across a light cord that was trailing 
overboard across the stern bulwarks. Instantly I 
grasped it. 

Why I should have done so I can hardly say. It 
was at first mere instinct, but once I had it in my 
hands and found it fast, curiosity began to get the 
upper hand, and I determined I should have one look 
through the cabin window. 

I pulled in hand over hand on the cord, and, when 
I judged myself near enough, rose at infinite risk to 
about half my height, and thus commanded the roof 
and a slice of the interior of the cabin. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


U7 

By this time the schooner and her little consort 
were gliding pretty swiftly through the water; in- 
deed, we had already fetched up level with the camp- 
fire. The ship was talking, as sailors say, loudly, 
treading the innumerable ripples with an incessant 
weltering splash; and until I got my eye above the 
window-sill I could not comprehend why the watch- 
men had taken no alarm. One glance, however, was 
sufficient; and it was only one glance that I durst 
take from that unsteady skiff. It showed me Hknds 
and his companion locked together in deadly wrestle, 
each with a hand upon the other’s throat. 

I dropped upon the thwart again, none too soon, 
for I was near overboard. I could see nothing for 
the moment but these two furious, encrimsoned faces, 
swaying together under the smoky lamp ; and I shut 
my eyes to let them grow once more familiar with 
the darkness. 

The endless ballad had come to an end at last, and 
the whole diminished company about the camp-fire 
had broken into the chorus I had heard so often : 

“Fifteen men on the dead man's chest — 

Yo-ho-ho amd a bottle of rum! 

Drink and the devil had done for the rest — 
Yo-ho-ho amd a bottle of rum!” 

I was just thinking how busy drink and the devil 
were at that very moment in‘ the cabin of the His- 
paniola, when I was surprised by a sudden lurch of 
the coracle. At the same moment she yawed^ sharply 
and seemed to change her course. The speed in the 
meantime had strangely increased. 

I opened my eyes at once. All around me were 
little ripples, coming over with a sharp, bristling 
sound and slightly phosphorescent. The Hispaniola 
herself, a few yards in whose wake I was still being 
whirled along, seemed to stagger in her course, and 
I saw her spars toss a little against the blackness of 


lJt8 


TREASURE ISLAND 


the night; nay, as I looked longer, I made sure she 
also was wheeling to the southward. 

I glanced over my shoulder and my heart jumped 
against my ribs. There, right behind me, was the 
glow of the camp-fire. The current had turned at 
right angles, sweeping round along with it the tall 
schooner and the little dancing coracle; ever quick- 
ening, ever bubbling higher, ever muttering louder, 
it went spinning through the narrows for the open 
sea.' 

Suddenly the schooner in front of me gave a vio- 
lent yaw, turning, perhaps, through twenty degrees; 
and almost at the same moment one shout followed 
another from on board. I could hear feet pounding 
on the companion ladder, and I knew that the two 
drunkards had at last been interrupted in their quar- 
rel and awakened to a sense of their disaster. 

I lay down flat in the bottom of th^t wretched 
skiff and devoutly recommended my spirit to its 
Maker. At the end of the straits I made sure we 
must fall into some bar of raging breakers, where 
all my troubles would be ended speedily; and though 
I could perhaps bear to die, I could not bear to look 
upon my fate as it approached. 

So I must have lain for hours, continually beaten 
to and fro upon the billows, now and again wetted 
with flying sprays, and never ceasing to expect death 
at the next plunge. Gradually wea^riness grew upon 
me ; a numbness, an occasional stupor, fell upon my 
mind even in the midst of my terrors, until sleep at 
last intervened, and in my sea-tossed coracle I lay 
and dreamed of home and the old Admiral Benbow. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


IJ^9 


CHAPTER XXIV 
THE CRUISE OF THE CORACLE 

It was broad day when I awoke and found myself 
tossing at the southwest end of Treasure Island. The 
sun was up, but was still hid from me behind the 
great bulk of the Spy-glass, which on this side de- 
scended almost to the sea in formidable cliffs. 

Haulbowline Head and Mizzen-mast Hill were at 
my elbow, the hill bare and dark, the head bound 
with cliffs forty or fifty feet high and fringed with 
great masses of fallen rock. I was scarce a quarter 
of a mile to seaward, and it was my first thought to 
paddle in and land. 

That notion was soon given over. Among the 
fallen rocks the breakers spouted and bellowed ; loud 
reverberations, heavy sprays flying and falling, suc- 
ceeded one another from second to second; and I 
saw myself, if I ventured nearer, dashed to death 
upon the rough shore or spending my strength in 
vain to scale the beetling crags. 

Nor was that all, for crawling together on flat 
tables of rock, or letting themselves drop into the 
sea with loud reports, I beheld huge slimy monsters 
— soft snails, as it were, of incredible bigness — two 
or three score of them together, making the rocks to 
echo with their barkings. 

I have understood since that they were sea-lions, 
and entirely harmless. But the look of them, added 
to the difficulty of the shore and the high running of 
the surf, was more than enough to disgust me of that 
landing-place. I felt willing rather to starve at sea 
than to confront such perils. 

In the meantime I had a better chance, as I sup- 
posed, before me. North of Haulbowline Head the 
land runs in a long way, leaving, at low tide, a long 
stretch of yellow sand. To the north of that, again, 
there comes another cape — Cape of the Woods, as 


150 


TREASURE ISLAND 


it was marked upon the chart — buried in tall green 
pines, which descended to the margin of the sea. 

I remembered what Silver had said about the cur- 
rent that sets northward along the whole west coast 
of Treasure Island; and seeing from my position 
that I was already under its influence, I preferred to 
leave Haulbowline Head behind me, and reserve my 
strength for an attempt to land upon the kindlier- 
looking Cape of the Woods. 

There was a great, smooth swell upon the sea. 
The wind blowing steady and gentle from the south, 
there was no contrariety between that and the cur- 
rent, and the billows rose and fell unbroken. 

Had it been otherwise, I must long ago have per- 
ished; but as it was, it is surprising how easily and 
securely my little and light boat could ride. Often, 
as I still lay at the bottom, and kept no more than an 
eye above the gunwale, I would see a big blue sum- 
mit heaving close above me; yet the coracle would 
but bounce a little, dance as if on springs, and sub- 
side on the other side into the trough as lightly as a 
bird. 

I began after a little to grow very bold, and set up 
to try my skill at paddling. But even a small change 
in the disposition of the weight will produce violent 
changes in the behavior of a coracle. And I had 
hardly moved before the boat, giving up at once her 
gentle, dancing movement, ran straight down a slope 
of water so steep that it made me giddy, and struck 
her nose, with a spout of spray, deep into the side 
of the next wave. 

I was drenched and terrifled, and fell instantly 
back into my old position, whereupon the coracle 
seemed to find her head again, and led me softly 
as before among the billows. It was plain she was 
not to be interfered with, and at that rate, since I 
could in no way influence her course, what hope had 
I left of reaching land? 

I began to be horribly frightened, but I kept my 


TREASURE ISLAND 


151 


head, for all that. First, moving with all care, I 
gradually bailed out the coracle with my sea-cap; 
then getting my eye once more above the gunwale, 
I set myself to study how it was she managed to slip 
so quietly through the rollers. 

I found each wave, instead of the big, smooth, 
glossy mountain it looks from shore, or from a ves- 
sel’s deck, was for all the world like any range of 
hills on the dry land, full of peaks and smooth places 
and valleys. The coracle, left to herself, turning 
from side to side, threaded, so to speak, her way 
through these lower parts, and avoided the steep 
slopes and higher toppling summits of the wave. 

“Well, now,” thought I to myself, “it is plain I 
must lie where I am, and not disturb the balance; 
but it is plain, also, that I can put the paddle over the 
side, and from time to time, in smooth places, give 
her a shove or two toward land.” 

No sooner thought upon than done. There I lay 
on my elbows, in the most trying attitude, and every 
now and again gave a weak stroke or two to turn her 
head to shore. 

It was very tiring, and slow work, yet I did visibly 
gain ground; and, as we drew near the Cape of the 
Woods, though I saw I must infallibly miss that 
point, I had still made some hundred yards of east- 
ing. I was, indeed, close in. I could see the cool, 
green tree-tops swaying together in the breeze, and I 
felt sure I should make the next promontory without 
fail. 

It was high time, for I now began to be tortured 
with thirst. The glow of the sun from above, its 
thousandfold reflection from the waves, the sea-water 
that fell and dried upon me, caking my very lips with 
salt, combined to make my throat burn and my brain 
ache. The sight of the trees so near at hand had 
almost made me sick with longing; but the current 
had soon carried me past the point ; and, as the next 


152 


TREASURE ISLAND 


reach of sea opened out, I beheld a sight that changed 
the nature of my thoughts. 

Right in front of me, not half a mile away, I be- 
held the Hispaniola under sail. I made sure, of 
course, that I should be taken, but I was so distressed 
for want of water, that I scarce knew whether to be 
glad or sorry at the thought ; and, long before I had 
come to a conclusion, surprise had taken entire pos- 
session of my mind, and I could do nothing but stare 
and wonder. 

The Hispaniola was under her mainsail and two 
jibs, and the beautiful white canvas shone in the sun 
like snow or silver. When I first sighted her, all her 
sails were drawing, she was lying a course about 
northwest, and I presumed the men on board were 
going round the island on their way back to the 
anchorage. Presently she began to fetch more and 
more to the westward, so that I thought they had 
sighted me and were going about in chase. At last, 
however, she fell right into the wind’s eye, was taken 
dead aback, and stood there awhile helpless, with 
her sails shivering. 

“Clumsy fellows,” said I, “they must still be 
drunk as owls.” And I thought how Captain Smol- 
lett would have set them skipping. 

Meanwhile the schooner gradually fell off, and 
filled again upon another tack, sailed swiftly for a 
minute or so, and brought up once more dead in 
the wind’s eye. Again and again was this repeated. 
To and fro, up and down, north, south, east, and 
west, the Hispaniola sailed by swoops and dashes, 
and at each repetition ended as she had begun, with 
idly flapping canvas. It became plain to me that no- 
body was steering. And, if so, where were the men? 
Either they were dead drunk, or had deserted her, I 
thought, and perhaps if I could get on board, I might 
return the vessel to her captain. 

The current was bearing coracle and schooner 
southward at an equal rate. As for the latter’s sail- 


TREASURE ISLAND 


153 


ing, it was so wild and intermittent, and she hung 
each time so long in irons, that she certainly gained 
nothing, if she did not even lose. If only I dared to 
sit up and paddle I made sure that I could overhaul 
her. The scheme had an air of adventure that in- 
spired me, and the thought of the water breaker 
beside the fore-companion doubled my growing 
courage. 

Up I got, was welcomed almost instantly by an- 
other cloud of spray, but this time stuck to my pur- 
pose and set myself with all my strength and caution 
to paddle after the unsteered Hispaniola. Once I 
shipped a sea so heavy that I had to stop and bail, 
with my heart fluttering like a bird, but gradually 
I got into the way of the thing and guided my coracle 
among the waves, with only now and then a blow 
upon her bows and a dash of foam in my face. 

I was now gaining rapidly on the schooner. I 
could see the brass glisten on the tiller as it banged 
about, and still no soul appeared upon her decks. 
I could not choose but suppose she was deserted. 
If not, the men were lying drunk below, where I 
might batten them down perhaps, and do what I 
chose with the ship. 

For some time she had been doing the worst thing 
possible for me — standing still. She headed nearly 
due south, yawing of course all the time. Each 
time she fell off her sails partly filled, and these 
brought her, in a moment, right to the wind again. 
I have said this was the worst thing possible for me; 
for, helpless as she looked in this situation, with the 
canvas crackling like cannon, and the blocks trund- 
ling and banging on the deck, she still continued to 
run away from me, not only with the speed of the cur- 
rent, but by the whole amount of her leeway, which 
was naturally great. 

But now, at last, I had my chance. The breeze fell, 
for some seconds, very low, and the current grad- 
ually turning her, the Hispaniola revolved slowly 


151 ^ 


TREASURE ISLAND 


round her center and at last presented me her stern, 
with the cabin window still gaping open and the 
lamp over the table still burning on into the day. 
The mainsail hung drooped like a banner. She was 
stock-still but for the current. - 

For the last little while I had even lost, but now, 
redoubling my efforts, I began once more to overhaul 
the chase. 

I was not a hundred yards from her when the 
wind came again in a clap; she filled on the port 
tack and was off again, stooping and skimming like a 
swallow. 

My first impulse was one of despair, but my second 
was toward joy. Round she came, till she was broad- 
side on to me — round still till she had covered a half, 
and then two-thirds, and then three-quarters of the 
distance that separated us. I could see the waves 
boiling white under her forefoot. Immensely tall she 
looked to me from my low station in the coracle. 

And then, of a sudden, I began to comprehend. I 
had scarce time to think — scarce time to act and save 
myself. I was on the summit of one swell when the 
schooner came stooping over the next. The bowsprit 
was over my head. I sprung to my feet and leaped, 
stamping the coracle under water. With one hand 
I caught the jib-boom,^ while my foot was lodged 
between the stay and the brace, and as" I still clung 
there panting, a dull blow told me that the schooner 
had charged down upon and struck the coracle and 
that I was left without retreat on the Hispaniola. 


CHAPTER XXV 

I STRIKE THE JOLLY ROGER 

I had scarce gained a position on the bowsprit 
when the flying jib^ flapped and filled upon the other 
tack with a report like a gun. The schooner trembled 


TREASURE ISLAND 


155 


to her keel under the reverse, but next moment, the 
other sails still drawing, the jib flapped back again 
and hung idle. 

This had nearly tossed me off into the sea, and 
now I lost no time, crawled back along the bowsprit 
and tumbled head-foremost on the deck. 

I was on the lee side of the forecastle, and the 
mainsail, which was still drawing, concealed from me 
a certain portion of the after-deck. Not a soul was 
to be seen. The planks, which had not been swabbed 
since the mutiny, bore the print of many feet, and 
an empty bottle, broken by the neck, tumbled to and 
fro like a live thing in the scuppers. 

Suddenly the Hispaniola came right into the wind. 
The jibs behind me cracked aloud; the rudder 
slammed to; the whole ship gave a sickening heave 
and shudder; and at the same moment the main- 
boom swung inboard, the sheet groaning in the 
blocks, and showed me the lee after-deck. 

There were the two watchmen, sure enough ; Red- 
cap on his back, as stiff as a handspike, with his arms 
stretched out like those of a crucifix, and his teeth 
showing through his open lips ; Israel Hands propped 
against the bulwarks, his chin on his chest,'his hands 
lying open before him on the deck, his face as white, 
under its tan, as a tallow candle. 

For awhile the ship kept bucking and sidling like 
a vicious horse, the sails filling, now on one tack, 
now on another, and the boom swinging to and fro 
till the mast groaned aloud under the strain. Now 
and again, too, there would come a cloud of light 
sprays over the bulwarks, and a heavy blow of the 
ship’s bows against the swell — so much heavier 
weather was made of it by this great rigged ship 
than by my home-made, lop-sided coracle, now gone 
to the bottom of the sea. 

At every jump of the schooner. Red-cap slipped to 
and fro ; but — what was ghastly to behold — neither 
his attitude nor his fixed teeth-disclosing grin was 


156 


TREASURE ISLAND 


any way disturbed by this rough usage. At every 
jump, too, Hands appeared still more to sink into 
himself and settle down upon the deck, his feet slid- 
ing ever the farther out, and the whole body canting 
toward the stern, so that his face became, little by lit- 
tle, hid from me; and at last I could see nothing be- 
yond his ear and the frayed ringlet of one whisker. 

At the same time I observed, around both of them, 
splashes of dark blood upon the planks, and began to 
feel sure that they had killed each other in their 
drunken wrath. 

While I was thus looking and wondering, in a calm 
moment when the ship was still, Israel Hands turned 
partly round, and with a low moan, writhed himself 
back to the position in which I had seen him first. 
The moan, which told of pain and deadly weakness, 
and the way in which his jaw hung open, went right 
to my heart. But when I remembered the talk I had 
overheard from the apple barrel, all pity left me. 

I walked aft until I reached the mainmast. 

“Come aboard, Mr. Hands,” I said, ironically. 

He rolled his eyes round heavily, but he was too 
far gone to express surprise. All he could do was 
to utter one word, “Brandy.” 

It occurred to me there was no time to lose, and 
dodging the boom as it once more lurched across the 
deck, I slipped aft and down the companion-stairs 
into the cabin. 

It was such a scene of confusion as you can hardly 
fancy. All the lock-fast places had been broken 
open in quest of the chart. The fioor was thick with 
mud, where the ruffians had sat down to drink or con- 
sult after wading in the marshes round their camp. 
The bulkheads, all painted in clear white, and beaded 
round with gilt, bore a pattern of dirty hands. Dozens 
of empty bottles clinked together in corners to the 
rolling of the ship. One of the doctor’s medical books 
lay open on the table, half of the leaves gutted out, I 
suppose, for pipe-lights. In the midst of all this the 


TREASURE ISLAND 157 

lamp still cast a smoky glow, obscure and brown as 
umber. 

I went into the cellar; all the barrels were gone, 
and of the bottles a most surprising number had been 
drunk out and thrown away. Certainly, since the 
mutiny began, not a man of them could ever have 
been sober. 

Foraging about I found a bottle with some brandy 
left, for Hands; and for myself I routed out some 
biscuit, some pickled fruits, a great bunch of raisins, 
.and a piece of cheese. With these I came on deck, 
put down my own stock behind the rudder-head, and 
well out of the cockswain’s reach, went forward to 
the water-breaker, and had a good, deep drink of 
water, and then, and not until then, gave Hands the 
brandy. 

He must have drunk a gill before he took the bottle 
from his mouth. 

“Aye,” said he, “by thunder, but I wanted some o’ 
that!” 

I had sat down already in my own corner and be- 
gan to eat. 

“Much hurt?” I asked him. 

He grunted, or, rather, I might say, he barked. 

“If that doctor was aboard,” he said, “I’d be right 
enough in a couple of turns; but I don’t have no 
manner of luck, you see, and that’s what’s the matter 
with me. As for that swab, he’s good and dead, he 
is,” he added, indicating the man with the red cap. 
“He warn’t no seaman, anyhow. And where mought 
you have come from?” 

“Well,” said I, “I’ve come aboard to take possession 
of this ship, Mr. Hands, and you’ll please regard me 
as your captain until further notice.” 

He looked at me sourly enough, but said nothing. 
Some of the color had come back into his cheeks, 
though he still looked very sick and still continued to 
slip out and settle down as the ship banged about. 

“By the by,” I continued, “I can’t have these colors. 


158 


TREASURE ISLAND 


Mr. Hands; and by your leave I’ll strike ’em. 
Better none than these.” 

And, again dodging the boom, I ran to the color 
lines, hauled down their cursed black flag, and 
chucked it overboard. 

“God save the king!” said I, waving my cap; 
“and there’s an end to Captain Silver.” 

He watched me keenly and slyly, his chin all the 
while on his breast. 

“I reckon,” he said at last — “I reckon, Cap’n Haw- 
kins, you’ll kind o’ want to get ashore, now. S’pose 
we talks.” 

“Why, yes,” says I, “with all my heart, Mr. Hands. 
Say on.” And I went back to my meal with a good 
appetite. 

“This man,” he began, nodding feebly at the corpse 
— “O’Brien were his name — a rank Irelander — this 
man and me got the canvas on her, meaning for to 
sail her back. Well, he’s dead now, he is — as dead as 
bilge; and who’s to sail this ship, I don’t see. With- 
out I give you a hint, you ain’t that man, as far’s I 
can tell. Now, look here, you gives me food and 
drink, and a old scarf or ankecher to tie my wound 
up, you do; and I’ll tell you how to sail her; and 
that’s about square all round, I take it.” 

“I’ll tell you one thing,” says I; “I’m not going 
back to Captain Kidd’s anchorage. I mean to get into 
North Inlet, and beach her quietly there.” 

“To be sure you did,” he cried. “Why, I ain’t sich 
an infernal lubber, after all. I can see, can’t I? I’ve 
tried my fling, I have, and I’ve lost, and it’s you has 
the wind of me. North Inlet? Why, I haven’t no 
ch’ice, not I. I’d help you sail her up to Execution 
Dock, by thunder! so I would.” 

Well, as it seemed to me, there was some sense in 
this. We struck our bargain on the spot. In three 
minutes I had the Hispaniola sailing easily before 
the wind along the coast of Treasure Island, with 
good hopes of turning the northern point ere noon. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


159 


and beating down again as far as North Inlet before 
high water, when we might beach her safely, and 
wait till the subsiding tide permitted us to land. 

Then I lashed the tiller and went below to my own 
chest, where I got a soft silk handkerchief of my 
mother’s. With this, and with my aid, Hands bound 
up the great bleeding stab he had received in the 
thigh, and after he had eaten a little and had a swal- 
low or two more of the brandy, he began to pick up 
visibly, sat straighter up, spoke louder and clearer, 
and looked in every way another man. 

The breeze served us admirably. We skimmed be- 
fore it like a bird, the coast of the island flashing 
by, and the view changing every minute. Soon we 
were past the high lands and bowling beside low, 
sandy country, sparsely dotted with dwarf pines, and 
soon we were beyond that again, and had turned the 
corner of the rocky hill that ends the island on the 
north. 

I was greatly elated with my new command, and 
pleased with the bright, sunshiny weather and these 
different prospects of the coast. I had now plenty of 
water and good things to eat, and my conscience, 
which had smitten me hard for my desertion, was 
quieted by the great conquest I had made. I should, 
I think, have had nothing left me to desire but for 
the eyes of the cockswain as they followed me de- 
risively about the deck, and the odd smile that ap- 
peared continually on his face. It was a smile that 
had in it something both of pain and weakness — a 
haggard, old man’s smile; but there was, besides 
that, a grain of derision, a shadow of treachery, in 
his expression as he craftily watched, and watched, 
and watched me at my work. 


160 


TREASURE ISLAND 


CHAPTER XXVI 

ISRAEL HANDS 

The wind, serving us to a desire, now hauled into 
the west. We could run so much the easier from the 
northwest corner of the island to the mouth of the 
North Inlet. Only, as we had no power to anchor, and 
dared not beach her until the tide had flowed a good 
deal farther, time hung on our hands. The cockswain 
told me how to lay the ship to ; after a good many 
trials I succeeded, and we both sat in silence, over 
another meal. 

“Cap’n,” said he, at length, with that same un- 
comfortable smile, “here’s my old shipmate, O’Brien; 
s’pose you was to heave him overboard. I ain’t par- 
tic’lar, as a rule, and I don’t take no blame for set- 
tling his hash; but I don’t reckon him ornamental, 
now, do you ?” 

“I’m not strong enough, and I don’t like the job; 
and there he lies, for me,” said I. 

“This here’s an unlucky ship — the Hispaniola, 
Jim,” he went on, blinking. “There’s a power of men 
been killed in this Hispaniola — a sight o’ poor sea- 
men dead and gone since you and me took ship to 
Bristol. I never seen such dirty luck, not I. There 
was this here O’Brien, now — he’s dead, ain’t he? 
Well, now. I’m no scholar, and you’re a lad as can 
read and figure ; and, to put it straight, do you take 
it as a dead man is dead for good, or do he come alive 
again?” 

“You can kill the body, Mr. Hands, but not the 
spirit; you must know that already,” I replied. 
“O’Brien, there, is in another world, and may be 
watching us.” 

“Ah!” says he. “Well, that’s unfort’nate — appears 
as if killing parties was a waste of time. How- 
somever, sperrits don’t reckon for much, by what 


TREASURE ISLAND 


161 


I’ve seen. I’ll chance it with the sperrits, Jim. And 
now you’ve spoke up free, and I’ll take it kind if you’d 
step down into that there cabin and get me a — well, a 
— shiver my timbers! I can’t hit the name on’t. 
Well, you get me a bottle of wine, Jim — this here 
brandy’s too strong for my head.” 

Now the cockswain’s hesitation seemed to be un- 
natural ; and as for the notion of his preferring wine 
to brandy, I entirely disbelieved it. The whole story 
was a pretext. He wanted me to leave the deck — so 
much was plain, but with what purpose I could in no 
way imagine. His eyes never met mine; they kept 
wandering to and fro, up and down, now with a look 
to the sky, now with a flitting glance upon the dead 
O’Brien. All the time he kept smiling and putting his 
tongue out in the most guilty, embarrassed manner, 
so that a child could have told that he was bent on 
some deception. I was prompt with my answer, how- 
ever, for I saw where my advantage lay, and that with 
a fellow so densely stupid I could easily conceal my 
suspicions to the end. 

“Some wine?” I said. “Far bej:ter. Will you have 
white or red?” 

“Well, I reckon it’s about the blessed same to me, 
shipmate,” he replied; “so it’s strong, and plenty of 
it, what’s the odds?” 

“All right,” I answered. “I’ll bring you port, Mr. 
Hands. But I’ll have to dig for it.” 

With that I scuttled down the companion with all 
the noise I could, slipped off my shoes, ran quietly 
along the sparred gallery, mounted the forecastle 
ladder and popped my head out of the fore com- 
panion. I knew he would not expect to see me there, 
yet I took every precaution possible, and certainly 
the Avorst of my suspicions proved too true. 

He had risen from his position to his hands and 
knees, and though his leg obviously hurt him pretty 
sharply when he moved — for I could hear him stifle 
a groan — yet it was at a good, rattling rate that he 


162 


TREASURE ISLAND 


trailed himself across the deck. In half a minute 
he had reached the port scuppers, and picked out of 
a coil of rope a long knife, or rather a short dirk, 
discolored to the hilt with blood. He looked upon 
it for a moment, thrusting forth his under jaw, tried 
the point upon his hand, and then hastily concealing 
it in the bosom of his jacket, trundled back again into 
his old place against the bulwark. 

This was all that I required to know. Israel could 
move about; he was now armed, and if he had been 
at so much trouble to get rid of me, it was plain that 
I was meant to be the victim. What he would do 
afterward — whether he would try to crawl right 
across the island from North Inlet to the camp among 
the swamps, or whether he would fire Long Tom, 
trusting that his own comrades might come first to 
help him, was, of course, more than I could say. 

Yet I felt sure that I could trust him in one point, 
since in that our interests jumped together, and that 
was in the disposition of the schooner. We both de- 
sired to have her stranded safe enough, in a sheltered 
place, and so that, when the time came, she could 
be got off again with as little labor and danger as 
might be, and until that was done I considered that 
my life would certainly be spared. 

While I was thus turning the business over in my 
mind I had not been idle with my body. I had 
stolen back to the cabin, slipped once more into my 
shoes and laid my hand at random on a bottle of 
wine, and now with this for an excuse, I made my 
reappearance on the deck. 

Hands lay as I had left him, all fallen together 
in a bundle, and with his eyelids lowered as though 
he were too weak to bear the light. He looked up, 
however, at my coming, knocked the neck off the 
bottle like a man who had done the same thing often, 
and took a good swig, with his favorite toast of 
“Here’s luck!” Then he lay quiet for a little, and 


TREASURE ISLAND 163 

then, pulling out a stick of tobacco, begged me to 
cut him a quid. 

“Cut me a junk o’ that,” says he, “for I haven’t 
no knife, and hardly strength enough, so be as I had. 
Ah, Jim, Jim, I reckon I’ve missed stays Cut me 
a quid as’ll likely be the last, lad; for I’m for my 
long home, and no mistake.” 

“Well,” said I, “I’ll cut you some tobacco, but 
if I was you and thought myself so badly, I would 
go to my prayers, like a Christian man.” 

“Why?” said he. “Now you tell me why.” 

“Why?” I cried. “You were asking me just now 
about the dead. You’ve broken your trust; you’ve 
lived in sin and lies and blood; there’s a man you 
killed lying at your feet this moment; and you ask 
me why! For God’s mercy, Mr. Hands, that’s why.” 

I spoke with a little heat, thinking of the bloody 
dirk he had hidden in his pocket and designed, in his 
ill thoughts, to end me with. He, for his part, took a 
great draught of the wine and spoke with the most 
unusual solemnity. 

“For thirty year,” he said, “I’ve sailed the seas 
and seen good and bad, better and worse, fair weather 
and foul, provisions running out, knives going, and 
what not. Well, now I tell you, I never seen good 
come o’ goodness yet. Him as strikes first is my 
fancy; dead men don’t bite; them’s my views — amen, 
so be it. And now, you look here,” he added sud- 
denly changing his tone, “we’ve had about enough 
of this foolery. The tide’s made good enough by 
now. You just take my orders, Cap’n Hawkins, 
and we’ll sail slap in and be done with it.” 

All told, we had scarce two miles to run, but the 
navigation was delicate, the entrance to this northern 
anchorage was not only narrow and shoal, but lay 
east and west, so that the schooner must be nicely 
handled to be got in. I think I was a good, prompt 
subaltern, and I am very sure that Hands was an 
excellent pilot; for we went about and about, and 


I6>t 


TREASURE ISLAND 


dodged in, shaving the banks, with a certainty and a 
neatness that were a pleasure to behold. 

Scarcely had we passed the head before the land 
closed around us. The shores of North Inlet were 
as thickly wooded as those of the southern anchorage, 
but the space was longer and narrower, and more 
like, what in truth it was, the estuary of a river. 
Right before us, at the southern end, we saw the 
wreck of a ship in the last stages of dilapidation. 
It had been a great vessel of three masts, but had 
lain so long exposed to the injuries of the weather 
that it was hung about with great webs of dripping 
sea-weed, and on the deck of it shore bushes had 
taken root, and now flourished thick with flowers. 
It was a sad sight, but it showed us that the anchor- 
age was calm. 

“Now,” said Hands, “look there; there’s a pet 
bit for to beach a ship in. Fine flat sand, never a 
catspaw, trees all around of it and flowers a-blowing 
like a garding on that old ship.” 

“And, once beached,” I inquired, “how shall we 
get her off again?” 

“Why, so,” he replied; “you take a line ashore 
there on the other side at low water; take a turn 
about one o’ them big pines; bring it back, take a 
turn round the capstan and lie-to for the tide. Come 
high water, all hands take a pull upon the line, and 
off she comes as sweet as natur’. And now, boy, you 
stand by. We’re near the bit now, and she’s too much 
way on her. Starboard a little — so — steady — star- 
board — larboard a little — steady — steady!” 

So he issued his commands, which I breathlessly 
obeyed; till, all of a sudden, he cried: “Now, my 
hearty, luff!” And I put the helm hard up and the 
Hispaniola swung round rapidly and ran stem on for 
the low-wooded shore. 

The excitement of these last maneuvers had some- 
what interfered with the watch I had kept hitherto, 
sharply enough, upon the cockswain. Even then I 


TREASURE ISLAND 


165 


was still so much interested, waiting for the ship to 
touch, that I had quite forgot the peril that hung over 
my head, and stood craning over the starboard bul- 
warks and watching the ripples spreading wide be- 
fore the bows. I might have fallen without a struggle 
for my life, had not a sudden disquietude seized upon 
me and made me turn my head. Perhaps I had heard 
a creak or seen his shadow moving with the tail of my 
eye ; perhaps it was an instinct like a cat’s ; but, sure 
enough, when I looked round, there was Hands, al- 
ready halfway toward me, with the dirk in his right 
hand. 

We must both have cried out aloud when our eyes 
met, but while mine was the shrill cry of terror, his 
was a roar of fury like a charging bull’s. At the 
same instant he threw himself forward and I leaped 
sideways toward the bows. As I did so I left hold 
of the tiller, which sprung sharp to leeward; and I 
think this saved my life, for it struck Hands across 
the chest, and stopped him, for the moment, dead. 

Before he could recover I was safe out of the cor- 
ner where he had me trapped, with all the deck to 
dodge about. Just forward of the mainmast I 
stopped, drew a pistol from my pocket, took a cool 
aim, though he had already turned and was once more 
coming directly after me, and drew the trigger. 

The hammer fell, but there followed neither flash 
nor sound ; the priming was useless with sea-water. 
I cursed myself for my neglect. Why had not I, long 
before, reprimed and reloaded my only weapons? 
Then I should not have been as now, a mere fleeing 
sheep before this butcher. 

Wounded as he was, it was wonderful how fast he 
could move, his grizzled hair tumbling over his face 
and his face itself as red as a red ensign with his 
haste and fury. I had no time to try my other pistol, 
nor, indeed, much inclination, for I was sure it would 
be useless. One thing I saw plainly : I must not sim- 
ply retreat before him, or he would speedily hold me 


166 


TREASURE ISLAND 


boxed into the bows, as a moment since he had so 
nearly boxed me in the stern. Once so caught, and 
nine or ten inches of the blood-stained dirk would be 
my last experience on this side of eternity. I placed 
my palms against the mainmast, which was of a good- 
ish bigness, and waited, every nerve upon the stretch. 

Seeing that I meant to dodge he also paused, and a 
moment or two passed in feints on his part and cor- 
responding movements upon mine. It was such a 
game as I had often played at home about the rocks of 
Black Hill Cove ; but never before, you may be sure, 
with such a wildly beating heart as now. Still, as I 
say, it was a boy’s game, and I thought I could hold 
my own at it against an elderly seaman with a wound- 
ed thigh. Indeed, my courage had begun to rise sO' 
high that I allowed myself a few darting thoughts on 
what would be the end of the affair; and while I 
saw certainly that I could spin it out for long, I saw 
no hope of any ultimate escape. 

Well, while things stood thus, suddenly the His- 
paniola struck, staggered, ground for an instant in 
the sand, and then, swift as a blow, canted over to 
the port side, till the deck stood at an angle of forty- 
five degrees, and about a puncheon of water splashed 
into the scupper-holes, and lay in a pool between the 
deck and bulwark. 

We were both of us capsized in a second, and both 
of us rolled, almost together, into the scuppers, the 
dead Red-cap, with his arms still spread out, tum- 
bling stiffly after us. So near were we, indeed, that 
my head came against the cockswain’s foot with a 
crack that made my teeth rattle. Blow and all, I was 
the first afoot again, for Hands had got involved 
with the dead body. The sudden canting of the ship 
had made the deck no place for running on; I had 
to find some new way of escape, and that upon the in- 
stant, for my foe was almost touching me. Quick as 
thought, I sprung into the mizzen-shrouds, rattled up 


TREASURE ISLAND 


167 


hand over hand, and did not draw a breath till I was 
seated on the cross-trees. 

I had been saved by being prompt; the dirk had 
struck not half a foot below me, as I pursued my 
upward flight; and there stood Israel Hands with 
his mouth open and his face upturned to mine, a 
perfect statue of surprise and disappointment. 

Now that I had a moment to myself, I lost no time 
in changing the priming of my pistol, and then, hav- 
ing one ready for service, and to make assurance 
doubly sure, I proceeded to draw the load of the 
other, and recharge it afresh from the beginning. 

My new employment struck Hands all of a heap; 
he began to see the dice going against him, and after 
an obvious hesitation, he also hauled himself heavily 
into the shrouds, and, with the dirk in his teeth, be- 
gan slowly and painfully to mount. It cost him no 
end of time and groans to haul his wounded leg be- 
hind him; and I had quietly flnished my arrange- 
ments before he was much more than a third of the 
way up. Then, with a pistol in either hand, I ad- 
dressed him: 

“One more step, Mr. Hands,” said I, “and I’ll blow 
your brains out! Dead men don’t bite, you know,” I 
added, with a chuckle. 

He stopped instantly. I could see by the workings 
of his face that he was trying to think, and the 
process was so slow and laborious that, in my new- 
found security, I laughed aloud. At last, with a 
swallow or two, he spoke, his face still wearing the 
same expression of extreme perplexity. In order to 
speak he had to take the dagger from his mouth, but, 
in all else, he remained unmoved. 

“Jim,” says he, “I reckon we’re fouled, you and 
me, and we’ll have to sign articles. I’d have had you 
but for that there lurch; but I don’t have.no luck, 
not I; and I reckon I’ll have to strike, which comes 
hard, you see, for a master mariner to a ship’s 
younker like you, Jim.” 


168 


TREASURE ISLAND 


I was drinking in his words and smiling away, as 
conceited as a cock upon a walk, when, all in a breath, 
back went his right hand over his shoulder. Some- 
thing sung like an arrow through the air; I felt a 
blow and then a sharp pang, and there I was pinned 
by the shoulder to the mast. In the horrid pain and 
surprise of the moment — scarce can say it was by 
my own volition, and I am sure it was without a con- 
scious aim — both my pistols went off, and both es- 
caped out of my hands. They did not fall alone; 
with a choked cry the cockswain loosed his grasp 
upon the shrouds, and plunged head first into the 
water. 


CHAPTER XXVII 
“pieces of eight” 

Owing to the cant of the vessel, the masts hung far 
out over the water, and from my perch on the cross- 
trees I had nothing below me but the surface of the 
bay. Hands, who was not so far up, was, in conse- 
quence, nearer to the ship, and fell between me and 
the bulwarks. He rose once to the surface in a lather 
of foam and blood, and then sunk again for good. 
As the water settled, I could see him lying huddled 
together on the clean, bright sand in the shadow of 
the vessel’s sides. A fish or two whipped past his 
body. Sometimes, by the quivering of the water, he 
appeared to move a little, as if he were trying to rise. 
But he was dead enough, for all that, being both 
shot and drowned, and was food for fish in the very 
place where he had designed my slaughter. 

I was no sooner certain of this than I began to feel 
sick, faint, and terrified. The hot blood was running 
over my ^ back and chest. The dirk, where it had 
pinned my shoulder to the mast, seemed to burn like 
a hot iron, yet it was not so much these real suffer- 
ings that distressed me, for these, it seemed to me, I 


TREASURE ISLAND 


169 


could bear without a murmur; it was the horror I 
had upon my mind of falling from the cross-trees into 
that still, green water beside the body of the cock- 
swain. 

I clung with both hands till my nails ached, and I 
shut my eyes as if to cover up the peril. Gradually 
my mind came back again, my pulses quieted down to 
a more natural time, and I was once more in posses- 
sion of myself. 

It was my first thought to pluck forth the dirk; 
but either it stuck too hard or my nerve failed me, 
and I desisted with a violent shudder. Oddly 
enough, that very shudder did the business. The 
knife, in fact, had come the nearest in the world to 
missing me altogether; it held me by a mere pinch 
of skin, and this the shudder tore away. The blood 
ran down the faster, to be sure, but I was my own 
master again, and only tacked to the mast by my coat 
and shirt. 

These last I broke through with a sudden jerk, and 
then regained the deck by the standard shrouds. 
For nothing in the world would I have again ven- 
tured, shaken as I was, upon the overhanging port 
shrouds, from which Israel had so lately fallen. 

I went below and did what I could for my wound; 
it pained me a good deal, and still bled freely, but 
it was neither deep nor dangerous, nor did it greatly 
gall me when I used my arm. Then I looked around 
me, and as the ship was now, in a sense, my own, I 
began to think of clearing it from its last passenger 
— the dead man, O’Brien. 

He had pitched, as I have said, against the bul- 
warks, where he lay like some horrible, ungainly sort 
of puppet; life-size, indeed, but how different from 
life’s color or life’s comeliness! In that position, I 
could easily have my way with him, and as the habit 
of tragical adventures had worn off almost all my 
terror for the dead, I took him by the waist as if he 
had been a sack of bran, and, with one good heave. 


170 


TREASURE ISLAND 


tumbled him overboard. He went in with a sound- 
ing plunge, the red cap came off, and remained float- 
ing on the surface, and as soon as the splash sub- 
sided, I could see him and Israel lying side by side, 
both wavering with the tremulous movement of the 
water. O’Brien, though still quite a young man, was 
very bald. There he lay with that bald head across 
the knees of the man who had killed him, and the 
quick fishes steering to and fro over both. 

I was now alone upon the ship; the tide had just 
turned. The sun was within so few degrees of set- 
ting that already the shadows of the pines upon the 
western shore began to reach right across the anchor- 
age and fall in patterns on the deck. The evening 
breeze had sprung up, and though it was well warded 
off by the hill with the two peaks upon the east, the 
cordage had begun to sing a little softly to itself and 
the idle sails to rattle to and fro. 

I began to see a danger to the ship. The jibs I 
speedily doused ^ and brought tumbling to the deck, 
but the mainsail was a harder matter. Of course, 
when the schooner canted over, the boom had swung 
outboard, and the cap of it and a foot or two of sail 
hung even under water. I thought this made it still 
more dangerous, yet the strain was so heavy that I 
half feared to meddle. At last I got my knife and 
cut the halyards. The peak dropped instantly, a 
great belly of loose canvas floated broad upon the 
water; and since, pull as I liked, I could not budge 
the downhaul, that was the extent of what I could 
accomplish. For the rest, the Hispaniola must trust 
to luck, like myself. 

By this time the whole anchorage had fallen into 
shadow — the last rays, I remember, falling through 
a glade of the wood, and shining bright as jewels on 
the flowery mantle of the wreck. It began to be 
chill, the tide was rapidly fleeting seaward, the 
schooner settling more and more on her beam-ends. 

I scrambled forward and looked over. It seemed 


TREASURE ISLAND 


171 


shallow enough, and holding the cut hawser in both 
hands for a last security, I let myself drop softly 
overboard. The water scarcely reached my waist; 
the sand was firm and covered with ripple-marks, and 
I waded ashore in great spirits, leaving the Hispani- 
ola on her side, with her mainsail trailing wide upon 
the surface of the bay. About the same time the 
sun went fairly down, and the breeze whistled low in 
the dusk among the tossing pines. 

At least, and at last, I was off the sea, nor had I 
returned thence empty-handed. There lay the 
schooner, clear at last from buccaneers and ready 
for our own men to board and get to sea again. I 
had nothing nearer my fancy than to get home to 
the stockade and boast of my achievements. Pos- 
sibly, I might be blamed a bit for my truantry, but 
the recapture of the Hispaniola was a clinching an- 
swer, and I hoped that even Captain Smollett would 
confess I had not lost my time. 

So thinking, and in famous spirits, I began to set 
my face homeward for the block-house and my com- 
panions. I remembered that the most easterly of 
the rivers which drain into Captain Kidd’s anchorage 
ran from the two-peaked hill upon my left; and I 
bent my course in that direction that I might pass 
the stream while it was small. The wood was pretty 
open, and keeping along the lower spurs, I had soon 
turned the corner of that hill, and not long after 
waded to the mid-calf across the water-course. 

This brought me near to where I had encountered 
Ben Gunn, the maroon, and I walked more circum- 
spectly, keeping an eye on every side. The dusk 
had come nigh hand completely, and, as I opened out 
the cleft between the two peaks, I became aware of 
a wavering glow against the sky, where, as I judged, 
the man of the island was cooking his supper before 
a roaring fire. And yet I wondered, in my heart, that 
he should show himself so careless. For if I could 
see this radiance, might it not reach the eye of Silver 


172 TREASURE ISLAND 

himself where he camped upon the shore among the 
marshes? 

Gradually the night fell blacker ; it was all I could 
do to guide myself even roughly toward my destina- 
tion; the double hill behind me and the Spy-glass 
on my right hand loomed faint and fainter, the stars 
were few and pale, and in the low ground where I 
wandered I kept tripping among bushes and rolling 
into sandy pits. 

Suddenly a kind of brightness fell about me. I 
looked up; a pale glimmer of moonbeams had 
alighted on the summit of the Spy-glass, and soon 
after I saw something broad and silvery moving low 
down behind the trees, and knew the moon had risen. 

With this to help me, I passed rapidly over what 
remained to me of my journey; and, sometimes walk- 
ing, sometimes running, impatiently drew near to the 
stockade. Yet, as I began to tread the grove that 
lies before it, I was not so thoughtless but that I 
slacked my pace and went a trifle warily. It would 
have been a poor end of my adventures to get shot 
down by my own party in mistake. 

The moon was climbing higher and higher; its 
light began to fall here and there in masses through 
the more open districts of the wood, and right in 
front of me a glow of a different color appeared 
among the trees. It was red and hot, and now and 
again it was a little darkened — as it were the embers 
of a bonfire smoldering. 

For the life of me I could not think what it might 
be. 

At last I came right down upon the borders of the 
clearing. The western end was already steeped in 
moonshine; the rest, and the block-house itself, still 
lay in a black shadow, checkered with long, silvery 
streaks of light. On the other side of the house an 
immense fire had burned itself into clear embers, and 
shed a steady, red reverberation, contrasting strongly 
with the mellow paleness of the moon. There was 


TREASURE ISLAND 17S 

not a soul stirring, nor a sound beside the noises 
of the breeze. 

I stopped, with much wonder in my heart, and 
perhaps a little terror also. It had not been our 
way to build great fires; we were, indeed, by the 
captain’s orders, somewhat niggardly of firewood, 
and I began to fear that something had gone wrong 
while I was absent. 

I stole round by the eastern end, keeping close in 
shadow, and at a convenient place, where the dark- 
ness was thickest, crossed the palisade. 

To make assurance surer, I got upon my hands 
and knees, and crawled, without a sound, toward the 
corner of the house. As I drew nearer, my heart 
was suddenly and greatly lightened. It was not a 
pleasant noise in itself, and I have often complained 
of it at other times, but just then it was like music 
to hear my friends snoring together so loud and 
peaceful in their sleep. The sea-cry of the watch, 
that beautiful “All’s well,” never fell more reassur- 
ingly on m.y ear. 

In the meantime there was no doubt of one thing: 
they kept an infamous bad watch. If it had been 
Silver and his lads that were now creeping in on 
them, not a soul would have seen daybreak. That 
was what it was, thought I, to have the captain 
wounded; and again I blamed myself sharply for 
leaving them in that danger with so few to mount 
guard. 

By this time I had got to the door and stood up. 
All was dark within, so that I could distinguish noth- 
ing by the eye. As for sounds, there was the steady 
drone of the snorers, and a small occasional noise, 
a flickering or pecking that I could in no way account 
for. 

With my arms before me I walked steadily in. I 
should lie down in my own place (I thought, with a si- 
lent chuckle) and enjoy their faces when they found 
me in the morning. My foot struck something yield- 


TREASURE ISLAND 


m 

iiig — it was a sleeper’s leg, and he turned and groan- 
ed, but without awaking. 

And then, all of a sudden, a shrill voice broke 
forth out of the darkness : 

“Pieces of eight! pieces of eight! pieces of eight! 
pieces of eight! pieces of eight!” and so forth, with- 
out pause or change, like the clacking of a tiny mill. 

Silver’s green parrot, Captain Flint! It was she 
whom I had heard pecking at a piece of bark ; it was 
she, keeping better watch than any human being, who 
thus announced my arrival with her wearisome re- 
frain. 

I had no time left me to recover. At the sharp- 
clipping tone of the parrot, the sleepers awoke and 
sprung up, and with a mighty oath the voice of Silver 
cried : 

“Who goes?” 

I turned to run, struck violently against one per- 
son, recoiled, and ran full into the arms of a second, 
who, for his part, closed upon and held me tight. 

“Bring a torch, Dick,” said Silver, when my cap- 
ture was thus assured. 

And one of the men left the log house, and pres- 
ently returned with a lighted brand. 


PART VI 

CAPTAIN SILVER 


CHAPTER XXVIII 
IN THE enemy’s CAMP 

The red glare of the torch lighting up the interior 
of the block-house showed me the worst of my appre- 
hensions realized. The pirates were in possession 
of the house and stores ; there was a cask of cognac, 
there were the pork and bread, as before ; and, what 
tenfold increased my horror, not a sign of any pris- 
oner. I could only judge that all had perished, and 
my heart smote me sorely that I had not been there 
to perish with them. 

There were six of the buccaneers, all told ; not an- 
other man was left alive. Five of them were on 
their feet, flushed and swollen, suddenly called out 
of the first sleep of drunkenness. The sixth had 
only risen upon his elbow; he was deadly pale, and 
the blood-stained bandage round his head told that 
he had recently been wounded, and still more recently 
dressed. I remembered the man who had been shot 
and run back among the woods in the great attack, 
and doubted not that this was he. 

The parrot sat, preening her plumage, on Long 
John’s shoulder. He himself, I thought, looked some- 
what paler and more stern than I was used to. He 
still wore his fine broadcloth suit in which he had 
fulfilled his mission, but it was bitterly the worse for 
wear, daubed with clay and torn with the sharp 
briars of the wood. 

“So,” said he, “here’s Jim Hawkins, shiver my 


176 TREASURE ISLAND 

timbers! dropped in, like, eh? Well, come, I take 
that friendly.” 

And thereupon he sat down across the brandy- 
cask, and began to fill a pipe. 

“Give me the loan of a link,^ Dick,” said he; and 
then, when he had a good light, “That’ll do, my lad,” 
he added, “stick the glim in the wood heap; and you, 
gentlemen, bring yourselves to! — you needn’t stand 
up for Mr. Hawkins; he’ll excuse you, you may lay to 
that. And so, Jim” — stopping the tobacco — “here 
you are, and quite a pleasant surprise for poor old 
John. I see you were smart when first I set my eyes 
on you, but this here gets away from me clean, it do.” 

To all this, as may be well supposed, I made no 
answer. They had set me with my back against the 
wall, and I stood there, looking Silver in the face, 
pluckily enough, I hope, to all outward appearance, 
but with black despair in my heart. 

Silver took a whiff or two of his pipe with great 
composure, and then ran on again: 

“Now, you see, Jim, so be as you are here,” says 
he, “I’ll give you a piece of my mind. I’ve always 
liked you, I have, for a lad of spirit, and the picter 
of my own self when I was young and handsome. 
I always wanted you to jine and take your share, and 
die a gentleman, and now, my cock, you’ve got to. 
Captain Smollett’s a fine seaman, as I’ll own up to 
any day, but stiff on discipline. ‘Booty is dooty,’ 
says he, and right he is. Just you keep clear of 
the cap’n. The doctor himself is gone dead agin 
you — the ‘ungrateful scamp’ was what he said; and 
the short and the long of the whole story is about 
here: You can’t go back to your own lot, for they 
won’t have you ; and, without you start a third ship’s 
company all by yourself, which might be lonely, you’ll 
have to jine with Cap’n Silver.” 

So far so good. My friends, then, were still alive, 
and though I partly believed the truth of Silver’s 
statement, that the cabin party were incensed at me 


TREASURE ISLAND 


177 


for my desertion, I was more relieved than distressed 
by what I heard. 

“I don’t say nothing as to your being in our 
hands,” continued Silver, “though there you are, and 
you may lay to it. I’m all for argyment ; I never seen 
good come out o’ threatening. If you like the service, 
well, you’ll jine; and if you don’t, Jim, why you’re 
free to answer no — free and welcome, shipmate ; and 
if fairer can be said by mortal seaman, shiver my 
sides !” 

“Am I to answer, then?” I asked, with a very 
tremulous voice. Through all this sneering talk I 
was* made to feel the threat of death that overhung 
me, and my cheeks burned and my heart beat pain- 
fully in my breast. 

“Lad,” said Silver, “no one’s a-pressing of you. 
Take your bearings. None of us won’t hurry you, 
mate; time goes so pleasant in your company, you 
see?” 

“Well,” says I, growing a bit bolder, “if I’m to 
choose, I declare I have a right to know what’s 
what, and why you’re here, and where my friends 
are.” 

“Wot’s wot?” repeated one of the buccaneers, in 
a deep growl. “Ah, he’d be a lucky one as knowed 
that!” 

“You’ll, perhaps, batten down your hatches,^ till 
you’re spoke to, my friend,” cried Silver, truculently, 
to this speaker, “Yesterday morning, Mr. Hawkins,” 
said he, “in the dog-watch, ^ down came Doctor 
Livesey with a flag of truce. Says he : ‘Cap’n Silver, 
you’re sold out. Ship’s gone! Well, maybe we’d 
been taking a glass, and a song to help it round. I 
won’t say no. Leastways none of us had looked out. 
We looked out, and, by thunder! the old ship was 
gone. I never seen a pack o’ fools look fishier; and 
you may lay to that, if I tells you that I looked the 
fishiest. ‘Well,’ says the doctor, ‘let’s bargain.’ 
We bargained, him and I, and here we are; stores, 


178 


TREASURE ISLAND 


brandy, block-house, the firewood you was thoughtful 
enough to cut, and, in a manner of speaking, the 
whole blessed boat, from cross-trees to keelson. As 
for them, they've tramped; I don’t know where’s 
they are.” 

He drew again quietly at his pipe. 

“And lest you should take it into that head of 
yours,” he went on, “that you was included in the 
treaty, here’s the last word that was said: ‘How 
many are you,’ says I, ‘to leave?’ ‘Four,’ says he 
— ‘four, and one of us wounded. As for that boy, 

I don’t know where he is, confound him,’ says he, 
‘nor I don’t much care. We’re about sick of him.’ 
These was his words.” 

“Is that all?” I asked. 

“Well, it’s all you’re to hear, my son,” returned 
Silver. 

“And now I am to choose?” 

“And now you are to choose, and you may lay to 
that,” said Silver. 

“Well,” said I, “I am not such' a fool but I know 
pretty well what I have to look for. Let the worst 
come to the worst, it’s little I care. I’ve seen too 
many die since I fell in with you. But there’s a thing 
or two I have to tell you,” I said, and by this time 
I was quite excited; “and the first is this: Here 
you are, in a bad way; ship lost, treasure lost, men 
lost; your whole business gone to wreck; and if you 
want to know who did it — it was I! I was in the 
apple barrel the night we sighted land, and I heard 
you, John, and you, Dick Johnson, and Hands, who 
is now at the bottom of the sea, and told every word 
you said before the hour was out. And as for the 
schooner, it was I who cut her cable, and it was I 
who killed the men you had aboard of her, and it was 
I who brought her where you’ll never see her more, 
not one of you. The laugh’s on my side; I’ve had 
the top of this business from the first; I no more 
fear you than I fear a fiy. Kill me, if you please. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


179 


or spare me. But one thing I’ll say, and no more; 
if you spare me, by-gones are by-gones, and when 
you fellows are in court for piracy I’ll save you all 
I can. It is for you to choose. Kill another and 
do yourselves no good, or spare me and keep a witness 
to save you from the gallows.” 

I stopped, for, I tell you, I was out of breath, and, 
to my wonder, not a man of them moved, but all 
sat staring at me like as many sheep. And while 
they were still staring I broke out again : 

“And now, Mr. Silver,” I said, “I believe you’re 
the best man here, and if things go to the worst. I’ll 
take it kind of you to let the doctor know the way 
I took it.” 

“I’ll bear it in mind,” said Silver, with an accent 
so curious that I could not, for the. life of me, decide 
whether he were laughing at my request or had been 
favorably affected by my courage. 

“I’ll put one to that,” cried the old mahogany- 
faced seaman — Morgan by name — whom I had seen 
in Long John’s public-house upon the quays of Bris- 
tol. “It was him that knowed Black Dog.” 

“Well, and see here,” added the sea-cook, “I’ll 
put another again to that, by thunder! for it w’as 
this same boy that faked the chart from Billy Bones. 
First and last we’ve split upon Jim Hawkins!” 

“Then here goes!” said Morgan, with an oath. 

And he sprung up, drawing his knife as if he had 
been twenty. 

“Avast, there!” cried Silver. “Who are you, Tom 
Morgan? Maybe you thought you were captain 
here, perhaps. By the powers, but I’ll teach you 
better! Cross me and you’ll go where many a good 
man’s gone before you, first and last, these thirty 
year back — some to the yard-arm, shiver my sides! 
and some by the board, and all to feed the fishes. 
There’s never a man looked me between the eyes 
and seen a good day a’terward, Tom Morgan, you may 
lay to that.” 


180 TREASURE ISLAND 

Morgan paused, but a hoarse murmur rose from 
the others. 

“Tom’s right,” said one. 

“I stood hazing long enough from one,” added 
another. “I’ll be hanged if I’ll be hazed by you, 
John Silver.” 

“Did any of you gentlemen want to have it out 
with me?” roared Silver, bending far forward from 
his position on the keg, with his pipe still glowing 
in his right hand. “Put a name on what you’re at; 
you ain’t dumb, I reckon. Him that wants shall 
get it. Have I lived this many years to have a son 
of a rum puncheon cock his hat athwart my hawser^ 
at the latter end of it? You know the way; you’re 
all gentlemen o’ fortune, by your account. Well, 
I’m ready. Take a cutlass him that dares and I’ll 
see the color of his inside, crutch and all, before that 
pipe’s empty. 

Not a man stirred ; not a man answered. 

“That’s your sort, is it?” he added, returning his 
pipe to his mouth. “Well, you’re a gay lot to look 
at, any way. Not worth much to fight, you ain’t. 
P’r’aps you can understand King George’s English. 
I’m cap’n here by ’lection. I’m cap’n here because 
I’m the best man by a long sea-mile. You won’t 
fight, as gentlemen o’ fortune should; then by thun- 
der you’ll obey, and you may lay to it! I like that 
boy now; I never seen a better boy than that. He’s 
more a man than any pair of rats of you in this here 
house, and what I say is this: Let me see him as’ll 
lay a hand on him — that’s what I say, and you may 
lay to it.” 

There was a long pause after this. I stood straight 
up against the wall, my heart still going like a 
sledge-hammer, but with a ray of hope now shining 
in my bosom. Silver leaned back against the wall, 
his arms crossed, his pipe in the corner of his mouth, 
as calm as though he had been in church ; yet his 
eye kept wandering furtively, and he kept the tail 


TREASURE ISLAND 


181 


of it on his unruly followers. They, on their part, 
drew gradually together toward the far end of the 
block-house, and the low hiss of their whispering 
sounded in my ears continuously like a stream. One 
after another they would look up, and the red light 
of the torch would fall for a second on their nervous 
faces ; but it was not toward me, it was toward Silver 
that they turned their eyes. 

“You seem to have a lot to say," remarked Silver, 
spitting far into the air. “Pipe up and let me hear 
it, or lay to." 

“Ax your pardon, sir," returned one of the men; 
“you’re pretty free with some of the rules, maybe 
you’ll kindly keep an eye upon the rest. This crew’s 
dissatisfied; this crew don’t vally bullying a marlin- 
spike ; this crew has its rights like other crews. I’ll 
make so free as that, and by your own rules I take it 
we can talk together. I ax your pardon, sir, acknowl- 
edging you for to be capting at this present, but I 
claim my right and steps outside for a council." 

And with an elaborate sea-salute this fellow, a 
long, ill-lcoking, yellow-eyed man of five-and-thirty, 
stepped coclly toward the door and disappeared out 
of the house. One after another the rest followed 
his example, each making a salute as he passed, each 
adding some apology. “According to rules,” said 
one. “Fck’s’le council,” said Morgan. And so with 
one remark or another all marched out and left Silver 
and me alone with the torch. 

The sea-cock instantly removed his pipe. 

“Now look you here, Jim Hawkins," he said in a 
steady whisper that was no more than audible, 
“you’re within half a plank of death, and what’s a 
long sight worse, of torture. They’re going to throw 
me off. But you mark, I stand by you through thick 
and thin. I didn’t mean to; no, not till you spoke up. 
I was about desperate to lose that much blunt, and 
be hanged into the bargain. But I see you was the 
right sort. I says to myself : You stand by Hawkins, 


182 


TREASURE ISLAND 


John, and Hawkins’ll stand by you. You’re his last 
card, and by the living thunder, John, he’s yours! 
Back to back, says I. You save your witness and he’ll 
save your neck!” 

I began dimly to understand. 

“You mean all is lost?” I asked. 

“Aye, by gum, I do!” he answered. “Ship gone, 
neck gone — that’s the size of it. Once I looked into 
that bay, Jim Hawkins, and seen no schooner — well. 
I’m tough, but gave out. As for that lot and their 
council, mark me, they’re outright fools and cowards. 
I’ll save your life — if so be as I can — from them. 
But see here, Jim — tit for tat — you save Long John 
from swinging.” 

I was bewildered; it seemed a thing so hopeless he 
was asking — he, the old buccaneer, the ringleader 
throughout. 

“What I can do, that I’ll do,” I said. 

“It’s a bargain!” cried Long John. “You speak 
up plucky, and by thunder, I’ve a chance.” 

He hobbled to the torch, where it stood propped 
among the firewood, and took a fresh light to his 
pipe. 

“Understand me, Jim,” he said, returning. “I’ve 
a head on my shoulders, I have. I’m on squire’s 
side now. I know you’ve got that ship safe some- 
wheres. How you done it I don’t know, but safe 
it is. I guess Hands and O’Brien turned soft. I 
never much believed in neither of them. Now you 
mark me. I ask no questions, nor I won’t let others. 
I know when a game’s up, I do; and I know a lad 
that’s staunch. Ah, you that’s young — you and me 
might have done a power of good together!” 

He drew some cognac from the cask into a tin 
cannikin. 

“Will you taste, messmate?” he asked, and when 
I had refused, “Well, I’ll take a drain myself, Jim,” 
said he. “I need a caulker, for there’s trouble on 


TREASURE ISLAND 


183 


hand. And, talking o’ trouble, why did that doctor 
give me the chart, Jim? 

My face expressed a wonder so unaffected that he 
saw the needlessness of further questions. 

“Ah, well, he did, though,” said he. “And there’s 
something under that, no doubt — something, surely, 
under that, Jim — bad or good.” 

And he took another swallow of the brandy, shak- 
ing his great fair head like a man who looks forward 
to the worst. 


CHAPTER XXIX 

THE BLACK SPOT AGAIN 

The council of the buccaneers had lasted some 
time, when one of them re-entered the house, and 
with a repetition of the same salute, which had in 
my eyes an ironical air, begged for a moment’s loan 
of the torch. Silver briefly agreed, and this emissary 
retired again, leaving us together in the dark. 

“There’s a breeze coming, Jim,” said Silver, who 
had by this time adopted quite a friendly and famil- 
iar tone. 

I turned to the loop-hole nearest me and looked 
out. The embers of the great fire had so far burned 
themselves out, and now glowed so low and duskily, 
that I understood why these conspirators desired a 
torch. About halfway down the slope to the stock- 
ade they were collected in a group; one held the light; 
another was on his knees in their midst, and I saw 
the blade of an open knife shine in his hand with 
varying colors, in the moon and torchlight. The 
rest were all somewhat stooping, as though watching 
the maneuvers of this last. I could just make out 
that he had a book as well as a knife in his hand; 
and was still wondering how anything so incongruous 
had come in their possession, when the kneeling fig- 


18 U 


TREASURE ISLAND 


ure rose once more to his feet, and the whole party 
began to move together toward the house. 

“Here they come,” said I, and I returned to my 
former position, for it seemed beneath my dignity 
that they should find me watching them. 

“Well, let ’em come, lad — let ’em come,” said Silver 
cheerily. “I’ve still a shot in my locker.” 

The. door opened, and the five men, standing hud- 
dled together just inside, pushed one of their number 
forward. In any other circumstances it would have 
been comical to see his slow advances, hesitating as 
he set down each foot, but holding his closed right 
hand in front of him. 

“Step up, lad,” cried Silver. “I won’t eat you. 
Hand it over, lubber. I know the rules, I do ; I won’t 
hurt a depytation.” 

Thus encouraged the buccaneer stepped forth more 
briskly, and having passed something to Silver, from 
hand to hand, slipped yet more smartly back again to 
his companions. 

The sea-cook looked at what had been given him. 

“The black spot! I thought so,” he observed. 
“Where might you have got the paper? Why, hello! 
look here, now; this ain’t lucky! You’ve gone and 
cut this out of a Bible. What fool’s cut a Bible?” 

“Ah, there,” said Morgan, “there. Wot did I say? 
No good’ll come o’ that, I said.” 

“Well, you’ve about fixed it now, among you,” con- 
tinued Silver. “You’ll all swing now, I reckon. What 
soft-headed lubber had a Bible?” 

“It was Dick,” said one. 

“Dick, was it? Then Dick can get to prayers,” 
said Silver. “He’s seen his slice of luck, has Dick, 
and you may lay to that.” 

But here the long man with the yellow eyes struck 
in. 

“Belay that talk, John Silver,” he said. “This 
crew has tipped you the black spot in full council, as 
in dooty bound; just you turn it over, as in dooty 


TREASURE ISLAND 185 

bound, and see what’s wrote there. Then you can 
talk.” 

“Thanky, George,” replied the sea-cook. “You 
always was brisk for business, and has the rules by 
heart, George, as I’m pleased to see. Well, what is 
it, anyway? Ah! ‘Deposed’ — that’s it, is it? Very 
pretty wrote, to be sure; like print, I swear. Your 
hand o’ write, George? Why, you was gettin’ quite 
a leadin’ man in this here crew. You’ll be cap’n 
next, I shouldn’t wonder. Just oblige me with that 
torch again, will you? this pipe don’t draw.” 

“Come, now,” said George, “ you don’t fool this 
crew no more. You’re a funny man, by your- account ; 
but you’re over now, and you’ll maybe step down off 
that barrel, and help vote.” 

“I thought you said you knowed the rules,” re- 
turned Silver, contemptuously. Leastways, if you 
don’t, I do ; and I wait here — and I’m still your cap’n, 
mind — till you outs with your grievances, and I re- 
ply; in the meantime, your black spot ain’t worth a 
biscuit. After that we’ll see.” 

“Oh,” replied George, “you don’t be under no kind 
of apprehension ; weWe all square, we are. First, 
you’ve made a hash of this cruise — you’ll be a bold 
man to say no to that. Second, you let the enemy out 
o’ this here trap for nothing. Why did they want out? 
I dunno, but it’s pretty plain they wanted it. Third, 
you wouldn’t let us go at them upon the march. Oh, 
we see through you, John Silver; you want to play 
booty,^ that’s what’s wrong with you. And then, 
fourth, there’s this here boy.” 

“Is that all?” asked Silver, quietly. 

“Enough, too,” retorted George. “We’ll all swing 
and sun-dry for your bungling.” 

“Well, now, look here. I’ll answer these four p’ints; 
one after another I’ll answer ’em. I made a hash o’ 
this cruise, did I? Well, now, you all know what I 
wanted; and you all know, if that had been done, 
that we’d ’a’ been aboard the Hispaniola this night 


186 


TREASURE ISLAND 


as ever was, every man of us alive, and fit, and full 
of good plum-duff, and the treasure in the hold of 
her, by thunder! Well, who crossed me? Who 
forced my hand, as was the lawful cap’n? Who tip- 
ped me the black spot the day we landed, and began 
this dance? Ah, it’s a fine dance — I’m with you there 
— and looks mighty like a hornpipe in a rope’s end 
at Execution Dock by London town, it does. But who 
done it? Why, it was Anderson and Hands and you, 
George Merry! And you’re the last above board of 
that same meddling crew; and you have the Davy 
Jones insolence to up and stand for cap’n over me — 
you, that sunk the lot of us! By the powers! but 
this tops the stiffest yarn to nothing.” 

Silver paused, and I could see by the faces of 
George and his late comrades that these words had 
not been said in vain. 

“That’s for number one,” cried the accused, wip- 
ing the sweat from his brow, for he had been talking 
with a vehemence that shook the house. “Why, I 
give you my word, I’m sick to speak to you. You’ve 
neither sense nor memory, and I leave it to fancy 
where your mothers was to let you come to sea. Sea ! 
Gentlemen o’ fortune ! I reckon tailors is your trade.” 

“Go on, John,” said Morgan. “Speak up to the 
others.” 

“Ah, the others!” returned John. “They’re a nice 
lot, ain’t they? You say this cruise is bungled. Ah! 
by gum, if you could understand how bad it’s bun- 
gled, you would see! We’re that near the gibbet that 
my neck’s stiff with thinking on it. You’ve seen ’em, 
may bo, hanged in chains, birds about ’em, seamen 
p’inting ’em out as they go down with the tide. ‘Who’s 
that?’ says one. ‘That! Why, that’s John Silver. I 
knowed him well,’ says another. And you can hear 
the chains a-jangle as you go about and reach for the 
other buoy. Now, that’s about where we are, every 
mother’s son of us, thanks to him, and Hands, and 
Anderson, and other ruination fools of you. And if 


TREASURE ISLAND 


187 


you want to know about number four, and that boy, 
why, shiver my timbers! isn’t he a hostage? Are we 
going to waste a hostage? No, not us; he might be 
our last chance, and I shouldn’t wonder. Kill that 
boy? not me, mates! And number three? Ah, well, 
there’s a deal to say to number three. May be you 
don’t count it nothing to have a real college doctor 
come to see you every day — you, John, with your 
head broke — or you, George Merry, that had the ague 
shakes upon you not six hours agone, and has your 
eyes the color of lemon peel to this same moment on 
the clock? And maybe, perhaps, you didn’t know 
there was a consort coming, either? But there is, 
and not so long till then; and we’ll see who’ll be glad 
to have a hostage when it comes to that. And as for 
number two, and why I made a bargain — well, you 
came crawling on your knees to me to make it — on 
your knees you came, you was that downhearted — 
and you’d have starved, too, if I hadn’t — but that’s a 
trifle! you look there — that’s why!” 

And he cast down upon the floor a paper that I in- 
stantly recognized — none other than the chart on 
yellow paper, with the three red crosses, that I had 
found in the oilcloth at the bottom of the captain’s 
chest. Why the doctor had given it to him was more 
than I could fancy. 

But if it were inexplicable to me the appearance of 
the chart was incredible to the surviving mutineers. 
They leaped upon it like cats upon a mouse. It went 
from hand to hand, one tearing it from another; and 
by the oaths and the cries and the childish laughter 
with which they accompanied their examination, you 
would have thought, not only they were fingering the 
very gold, but were at sea with it, besides, in safety. 

“Yes,” said one, “that’s Flint, sure enough. J. F. 
and a score below, with a clove hitch to it, so he done 
ever.” 

“Mighty pretty,” said George. “But how are we 
to get away with it, and us no ship ?” 


188 


TREASURE ISLAND 


Silver suddenly sprung up, and supporting himself 
with a hand against the wall: “Now, I give you 
warning, George,” he cried. “One more word of your 
sauce, and I’ll call you down and fight you. How? 
Why, how do I know? You had ought to tell me 
that^ — you and the rest, that lost me my schooner, 
with your interference, burn you ! But not you, you 
can’t ; you ain’t got the invention of a cockroach. But 
civil you can speak, and shall, George Merry, you may 
lay to that.” 

“That’s fair enow,” said the old man Morgan. 

“Fair! I reckon so,” said the sea-cook. “You lost 
the ship ; I found the treasure. Who’s the better man 
at that? And now I resign, by thunder! Elect whom 
you please to be your cap’n now ; I’m done with it.” 

“Silver!” they cried. “Barbecue forever! Barbe- 
cue for cap’n!” 

“So that’s the toon, is it?” cried the cook. “George, 
I reckon you’ll have to wait another turn, friend, and 
lucky for you as I’m not a revengeful man. But that 
was never my way. And now, shipmates, this black 
spot? ’Taint much good now, is it? Dick’s crossed 
his luck and spoiled his Bible, and that’s about all.” 

“It’ll do to kiss the book on still, won’t it?” growled 
Dick, who was evidently uneasy at the curse he had 
brought upon himself. 

“A Bible with a bit cut out!” returned Silver, de- 
risively. “Not it. It don’t bind no more’n a ballad- 
book.” 

“Don’t it, though?” cried Dick, with a sort of joy. 
“Well, I reckon that’s worth having, too.” 

“Here, Jim — here’s a cur’osity for you,” said Sil- 
ver, and he tossed me the paper. 

It was a round about the size of a crown-piece. One 
side was blank, for it had been the last leaf; the 
other contained a verse or two of Revelation — ^these 
words among the rest, which struck sharply home 
upon my mind: “Without are dogs and murderers.” 
The printed side had been blackened with wood-ash. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


189 


which already began to come off and soil my fingers; 
on the blank side had been written with the same ma- 
terial the one word, “Deposed.” I have that curiosity 
beside me at this moment ; but not a trace of writing 
now remains beyond a single scratch, such as a man 
might make with his thumb-nail. 

That was the end of the night’s business. Soon 
after, with a drink all round, we lay down to sleep, 
and the outside of Silver’s vengeance was to put 
George Merry up for sentinel, and threaten him with 
death if he should prove unfaithful. 

It was long ere I could close an eye, and heaven 
knows I had matter enough for thought in the man 
whom I had slain that afternoon, in my own most 
perilous position, and, above all, in the remarkable 
game that I saw Silver now engaged upon — ^keeping 
the mutineers together with one hand, and grasping, 
with the other, after every means, possible and im- 
possible, to make his peace and save his miserable 
life. He himself slept peacefully, and snored aloud; 
yet my heart was sore fcr him, wicked as he was, to 
think on the dark perils that environed, and the 
shameful gibbet that awaited him. 


CHAPTER XXX 
ON PAROLE 

I was wakened — indeed, we were all wakened, for 
I could see even the sentinel shake himself together 
from where he had fallen against the door-post — by a 
clear, hearty voice hailing us from the margin of the 
wood: 

“Block-house, ahoy !” it cried. “Here’s the doctor.” 

And the doctor it was. Although I was glad to 
hear the sound, yet my gladness was not without ad- 
mixture. I remembered with confusion my insubor- 
dinate and stealthy conduct; and when I saw where 


190 


TREASURE ISLAND 


it had brought me — among what companions and sur- 
rounded by what dangers — I felt ashamed to look him 
in the face. 

He must have risen in the dark, for the day had 
hardly come; and when I ran to a loop-hole and 
looked out, I saw him standing, like Silver once be- 
fore, up to the mid-leg in creeping vapor. 

“You, doctor! Top o’ the morning to you, sir!’’ 
cried Silver, broad awake and beaming with good 
nature in a moment. “Bright and early, to be sure ; 
and it’s the early bird, as the saying goes, that gets 
the rations. George, shake up your timbers, son, and 
help Doctor Livesey over the ship’s side. All a-doin’ 
well, your patients was — all well and merry.” 

So he pattered on, standing on the hill-top, with 
his crutch under his elbow, and one hand upon the 
side of the log house — quite the old John in voice, 
manner, and expression. 

“We’ve quite a surprise for you, too, sir,” he con- 
tinued. “We’ve a little stranger here — he! he! A 
noo boarder and lodger, sir, and looking fit and taut 
as a fiddle; slep’ like a supercargo,^ he did, right 
alongside of John — stem to stem we was, all night.” 

Doctor Livesey was by this time across the stock- 
ade and pretty near the cook, and I could hear the 
alteration in his voice as he said: 

“Not Jim?” 

“The very same Jim as ever was,” says Silver. 

The doctor stopped outright, although he did not 
speak, and it was some seconds before he seemed 
able to move on. 

“Well, well,” he said at last, “duty first and pleas- 
ure afterward, as you might have said yourself. Sil- 
ver. Let us overhaul these patients of yours.” 

A moment afterward he had entered the block- 
house, and, with one grim nod to me, proceeded with 
his work among the sick. He seemed to me under no 
apprehension, though he must have known that his 
life, among these treacherous demons, depended on a 


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191 


hair, and he rattled on to his patients as if he were 
paying an ordinary professional visit in a quiet Eng- 
lish family. His manner, I suppose, reacted on the 
men, for they behaved to him as if nothing had oc- 
curred — aS if he were still ship’s doctor, and they 
still faithful hands before the mast. 

“You’re doing well, my friend,” he said to the 
fellow with the bandaged head, “and if ever any per- 
son had a close shave, it was you ; your head must be 
as hard as iron. Well, George, how goes it? You’re 
a pretty color, certainly; why, your liver, man, is up- 
side down. Did you take that medicine? Did he take 
that medicine, men?” 

“Aye, aye, sir, he took it sure enough,” returned 
Morgan. 

“Because, you see, since I am mutineers’ doctor, 
or prison doctor, as I prefer to call it,” says Doctor 
Livesey, in his pleasantest way, “I make it a point 
of honor not to lose a man for King George (God 
bless him!) and the gallows.” 

The rogues looked at each other, but swallowed the 
home-thrust in silence. 

“Dick don’t feel well, sir,” said one. 

“Don’t he?” replied the doctor. “Well, step up 
here, Dick, and let me see your tongue. No, I should 
be surprised if he did; the man’s tongue is fit to 
frighten the French. Another fever.” 

“Ah, there,” said Morgan, “that corned of sp’iling 
Bibles.” 

“That corned — as you call it — of being arrant 
asses,” retorted the doctor, “and not having sense 
enough to know honest air from poison, and the dry 
land from a vile, pestiferous slough. I think it most 
probable — though, of course, it’s only an opinion — 
that you’ll all have the deuce to pay before you get 
that malaria out of your systems. Camp in a bog, 
would you? Silver, I’m surprised at you. You’re 
less of a fool than many, take you all round ; but you 
don’t appear to me to have the rudiments of a notion 


192 


TREASURE ISLAND 


of the rules of health. Well,” he added, after he had 
dosed them round, and they had taken his prescrip- 
tions, with really laughable humility, more like 
charity school-children than blood-guilty mutineers 
and pirates, “well, that’s done for to-day. 'And now I 
should wish to have a talk with that boy, please.” 

And he nodded his head in my direction carelessly. 

George Merry was at the door, spitting and splut- 
tering over some bad-tasted medicine ; but at the first 
word of the doctor’s proposal he swung round with a 
deep flush, and cried, “No!” and swore. 

Silver struck the barrel with his open hand. 

“Si-lence!” he roared, and looked about him posi- 
tively like a lion. “Doctor,” he went on, in his usual 
tones, “I was thinking of that, knowing as how you 
had a fancy for the boy. We’re all humbly grateful 
for your kindness, and, as you see, puts faith in you, 
and takes the drugs down like that much grog. And I 
take it I’ve found a way as’ll suit all. Hawkins, will 
you give me your word of honor as a young gentle- 
man — for a young gentleman you are, although poor 
born — your word of honor not to slip your cable?” 

I readily gave the pledge required. 

“Then, doctor,” said Silver, “you just step outside 
o’ that stockade, and once you’re there. I’ll bring the 
boy down on the inside, and I reckon you can yarn 
through the spars. Good-day to you, sir, and all our 
dooties to the squire and Cap’n Smollett.” 

The explosion of disapproval, which nothing but 
Silver’s black looks had restrained, broke out imme- 
diately the doctor had left the house. Silver was 
roundly accused of playing double — of trying to make 
a separate peace for himself — of sacrificing the in- 
terests of his accomplices and victims; and, in one 
word, of the identical, exact thing that he was doing. 
It seemed to me so obvious, in this case, that I could 
not imagine how he was to turn their anger. But he 
was twice the man the rest were, and his last night’s 
victory had given him a huge preponderance on their 


TREASURE ISLAND 


193 


minds. He called them all the fools and dolts you 
can imagine, said it was necessary I should talk to 
the doctor, fluttered the chart in their faces, asked 
them if they could afford to break the treaty the very 
day they were bound a-treasure-hunting. 

“No, by thunder!” he cried, “it’s us must break the 
treaty when the time comes; and till then I’ll gam- 
mon^ that doctor, if I have to ile his boots with 
brandy.” 

And then he bade them get the Are lighted, and 
stalked out upon his crutch, with his hand on my 
shoulder, leaving them in a disarray, and silenced by 
his volubility rather than convinced. 

“Slow, lad, slow,” he said. “They might round up- 
on us in a twinkle of an eye if we was seen to hurry.” 

Very deliberately, then, did we advance across the 
sand to where the doctor awaited us on the other side 
of the stockade, and as soon as we were within easy 
speaking distance. Silver stopped. 

“You’ll make a note of this here also, doctor,” said 
he, “and the boy’ll tell you how I saved his life, and 
were deposed for it, too, and you may lay to that. 
Doctor, when a man’s steering as near to the wind as 
me — playing chuck-farthing with the last breath in 
his body, like — you wouldn’t think it too much, may- 
hap, to give him one good word! You’ll please bear 
in mind it’s not my life only now — it’s that boy’s into 
the bargain; and you’ll speak me fair, doctor, and 
give me a bit o’ hope to go on, for the sake of mercy.” 

Silver was a changed man, once he was out there 
and had his back to his friends and the block-house; 
his cheeks seemed to have fallen in, his voice trem- 
bled; never was a soul more dead in earnest. 

“Why, John, you’re not afraid?” asked Doctor 
Livesey. 

“Doctor, I’m no coward ; no, not I — not so much !” 
and he snapped his Angers. “If I was I wouldn’t say 
it. But I’ll own up fairly I’ve the shakes upon me 
for the gallows. You’re a good man and a true; I 


TREASURE ISLAND 


19 U 

never seen a better man! And you’ll not forget what 
I done good, not any more than you’ll forget the bad, 

I know. And I step aside — see here — and lea%e you 
and Jim alone. And you’ll put that down for me, too, 
for it’s a long stretch, is that!” 

So saying, he stepped back a little way till he was 
out of ear-shot, and there sat down upon a tree-stump 
and began to whistle, spinning round now and again 
upon his seat so as to command a sight sometimes of 
me and the doctor, and sometimes of his unruly 
ruffians as they went to and fro in the sand, between 
the fire— which they were busy rekindling — and the 
house, from which they brought forth pork and bread 
to make the breakfast. 

“So, Jim,” said the doctor, sadly, “here you are. 
As you have brewed, so shall you drink, my boy. 
Heaven knows I cannot find it in my heart to blame 
you ; but this much I will say, be it kind or unkind, 
when Captain Smollett was well you dared not have 
gone off, and when he was ill, and couldn’t help it, 
by George, it was downright cowardly!” r 

I will own that I here began to weep. “Doctor,” ] 
I said, “you might spare me. I have blamed myself j 
enough; my life’s forfeit any way, and I should have \ 
been dead now if Silver hadn’t stood for me; and, 
doctor, believe this, I can die — and I dare say I de- 
serve it — but what I fear is torture. If they come 
to torture me ” 

“Jim,” the doctor interrupted, and his voice was : 
quite changed, “Jim, I can’t have this. Whip over, 
and we’ll run for it.” 

“Doctor,” said I, “I passed my word.” 

“I know, I know,” he cried. “We can’t help 
that, Jim, now. I’ll take it on my shoulders, holus 
bolus, ^ blame and shame, my boy; but stay here, I 
cannot let you. Jump! One jump and you’re out, 
and we’ll run for it like antelopes.” 

“No,” I replied, “you know right well you 
wouldn’t do the thing yourself; neither you, nor \ 


TREASURE ISLAND 


195 


squire, nor captain, and no more will I. Silver 
trusted me; I passed my word, and back I go. But, 
doctor, you did not let me finish. If they come to 
torture me, I might let slip a word of where the ship 
is, for I got the ship, part by luck and part by risk- 
ing, and she lies in North Inlet, on the southern 
beach, and just below high water. At half-tide she 
must be high and dry.” 

“The ship !” exclaimed the doctor. 

Rapidly I described to him my adventures, and he 
heard me out in silence. 

“There is a kind of fate in this,” he observed, 
when I had done. “Every step it’s you that saves 
our lives, and do you suppose by any chance that 
we are going to let you lose yours? That would be 
a poor return, my boy. You found out the plot; you 
found Ben Gunn — the best deed that ever you did, 
or will do, though you live to ninety. Oh, by Jupiter! 
and talking of Ben Gunn, why, this is the mischief in 
person. Silver!” he cried, “Silver! I’ll give you a 
piece of advice,” he continued, as the cook drew near 
again; “don’t you be in any great hurry after that 
treasure.” ; 

“Why, sir, I do my possible, which that ain’t,” said 
Silver. “I can only, asking your pardon, save my 
life and the boy’s by seeking for that treasure; and 
you may lay to that.” 

“Well, Silver,” replied the doctor, “if that is so, 
I’ll go one step farther; look out for squalls when 
you find it!” 

“Sir,” said Silver, “as between man and man, that’s 
too much and too little. What you’re after, why 
you left the block-house, why you given me that there 
chart, I don’t know, now, do I? and yet I done your 
bidding with my eyes shut and never a word of hope ! 
But no, this here’s too much. If you won’t tell me 
what you mean plain out, just say so, and I’ll leave 
the helm.” 

“No,” said the doctor, musingly, “I’ve no right to 


196 


TREASURE ISLAND 


say more; it’s not my secret, you see, Silver, or, I 
give you my word, I’d tell it to you. But I’ll go as far 
with you as I dare go, and a step beyond, for I’ll have 
my wig sorted by the captain, or I’m mistaken ! And 
first. I’ll give you a bit of hope ; Silver, if we both get 
alive out of this wolf-trap. I’ll do my best to save you, 
short of perjury.” 

Silver’s face was radiant. ‘‘You couldn’t say more, 
I am sure, sir, not if you was my mother,” he cried. 

‘‘Well, that’s my first concession,” added the doctor. 
(‘‘My second is a piece of advice. Keep the boy close 
beside you, and when you need help, halloo. I’m off 
to seek it for you, and that itself will show you if I 
speak at random. Good-by, Jim.” 

And Doctor Livesey shook hands with me through 
the stockade, nodded to Silver, and set off at a brisk 
pace into the wood. 


CHAPTER XXXI 

THE TREASURE-HUNT — FLINT’S POINTER 

“Jim,” said Silver, when we were alone, “if I 
saved your life, you saved mine, and I’ll not forget 
it. I seen the doctor waving you to run for it — with 
the tail of my eye, I did — and I seen you say no as 
plain as hearing. Jim, that’s one to you. This is the 
first glint of hope I had since the attack failed, and 
I owe it you. And now, Jim, we’re to go in for this 
here treasure-hunting, with sealed orders, too, and 
I don’t like it; and you and me must stick close, back 
to back like, and we’ll save our necks in spite o’ fate 
and fortune.” 

Just then a man hailed us from the fire that break- 
fast was ready, and we were soon seated here and 
there about the sand over biscuit and fried junk.^ 
They had lighted a fire fit to roast an ox; and it was 
now grown so hot that they couW only approach, it 


TREASURE ISLAND 


197 


from the windward, and even there not without pre- 
caution. In the same wasteful spirit, they had cook- 
ed, I suppose, three times more than we could eat; 
and one of them, with an empty laugh, threw what 
was left into the fire, which blazed and roared again 
over this unusual fuel. I never in my life saw men 
so careless of the morrow; hand to mouth is the only 
word that can describe their way of doing ; and what 
with wasted food and sleeping sentries, though they 
were bold enough for a brush and be done with it, 
I could see their entire unfitness for anything like a 
prolonged campaign. 

Even Silver, eating away, with Captain Flint upon 
his shoulder, had not a word of blame for their reck- 
lessness. And this the more surprised me, for I 
thought he had never showed himself so cunning as 
he did then. 

“Aye, mates,” said he, “it’s lucky you have Barbe- 
cue to think for you with this here head. I got what 
I wanted, I did. Sure enough, they have the ship. 
Where they have it, I don’t know yet; but once we 
hit the treasure, we’ll have to jump about and find 
out. And then, mates, us that has the boats, I reckon, 
has the upper hand.” 

Thus he kept running on, with his mouth full of 
the hot bacon; thus he restored their hope and con- 
fidence, and, I more than suspect, repaired his own 
at the same time. 

“As for hostage,” he continued, “that’s his last 
talk, I guess, with them he loves so dear. I’ve got 
my piece o’ news, and thanky to him for that; but it’s 
over and done. I’ll take him in a line when we go 
treasure-hunting, for we’ll keep him like so much 
gold, in case of accidents, you mark, and in the mean- 
time, once we got the ship and treasure both, and off 
to sea like jolly companions, why, then we’ll talk Mr. 
Hawkins over, we will, and we’ll give him his share, 
to be sure, for all his kindness.” 

It was no wonder the men were in a good humor 


198 


TREASURE ISLAND 


now. For my part, I was horribly cast down. Should 
the scheme he had now sketched prove feasible, Sil- 
ver, already doubly a traitor, would not hesitate to 
adopt it. He had still a foot in either camp, and 
there was no doubt he would prefer wealth and free- 
dom with the pirates to a bare escape from hanging, 
which was the best he had to hope for on our side. 

Nay, and even if things so fell out that he was 
forced to keep his faith with Doctor Livesey, even 
then what danger lay before us! What a moment 
that would be when the suspicions of his followers 
turned to certainty, and he and I should have to 
fight for dear life — he, a cripple, and I, a boy — 
against five strong and active seamen 1 

Add to this double apprehension the mystery that 
still hung over the behavior of my friends; their un- 
explained desertion of the stockade; their inexpli- 
cable cession of the chart; or, harder still to under- 
stand, the doctor’s last warning to Silver, “Look out 
for squalls when you find it”; and you will readily 
believe how little taste I found in my breakfast, and 
with how uneasy a heart I set forth behind my cap- 
tors on the quest for treasure. 

We made a curious figure, had anyone been there 
to see us; all in soiled sailor clothes, and all but me 
armed to the teeth. Silver had two guns slung about 
him, one before and one behind — besides the great 
cutlass at his waist, and a pistol in each pocket of his 
square-tailed coat. To complete his strange appear- 
ance, Captain Flint sat perched upon his shoulder 
and gabbled odds and ends of purposeless sea-talk. 
I had a line about my waist, and followed obediently 
after the sea-cook, who held the loose end of the 
rope, now in his free hand, now between his power- 
ful teeth. For all the world, I was led like a dancing 
bear. 

The other men were variously burdened; some 
carrying picks and shovels — for that had been the 
very first necessary they brought ashore from the 


TREASURE ISLAND 


199 


Hispaniola — others laden with pork, bread, and 
brandy for the midday meal. All the stores, I ob- 
served, came from our stock, and I could see the 
truth of Silver’s words the night before. Had he not 
struck a bargain with the doctor, he and his muti- 
neers, deserted by the ship, must have been driven to 
subsist on clear water and the proceeds of their 
hunting. Water would have been little to their 
taste; a sailor is not usually a good shot; and, besides 
all that, when they were so short of eatables, it was 
not likely they would be very flush of powder. 

Well, thus equipped, we all set out — even the fel- 
low with the broken head, who should certainly have 
kept in shadow — and straggled, one after another, to 
the beach, where the two gigs awaited us. Even 
these bore trace of the drunken folly of the pirates, 
one in a broken thwart, and both in their muddled 
and unbailed condition. Both were to be carried 
along with us, for the sake of safety; and so, with 
our numbers divided between them, we set forth upon 
the bosom of the anchorage. 

As we pulled over there was some discussion on 
the chart. The red cross was, of course, far too 
large to be a guide; and the terms of the note on the 
back, as you will hear, admitted of some ambiguity. 
They ran, the reader may remember, thus : 

“Tall tree. Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N. 
of N. N. E. 

“Skeleton Island E. S. E. and by E. 

“Ten feet.” 

A tall tree was thus the principal mark. Now, right 
before us, the anchorage was bounded by a plateau 
from two to three hundred feet high, adjoining on the 
north the sloping southern shoulder of the Spy-glass, 
and rising again toward the south into the rough, 
cliffy eminence called the Mizzen-mast Hill. The top 
of the plateau was dotted thickly with pine trees of 
varying height. Every here and there, one of a differ- 
ent species rose forty or fifty feet clear above its 


200 


TREASURE ISLAND 


neighbors, and which of these was the particular 
“tall tree” of Captain Flint could only be decided on 
the spot, and by the readings of the compass. 

Yet, although that was the case, every man on 
board the boats had picked a favorite of his own ere 
we were halfway over. Long John alone shrugging 
his shoulders and bidding them wait till they were 
there. 

We pulled easily, by Silver’s directions, not to 
weary the hands prematurely; and, after quite a long 
passage, landed at the mouth of the second river — 
that which runs down a woody cleft of the Spy-glass. 
Thence, bending to our left, we began to ascend the 
slope toward the plateau. 

At the first outset, heavy, miry ground and a 
matted, marsh vegetation greatly delayed our prog- 
ress, but by little and little the hill began to steepen 
and become stony under foot, and the wood to change 
its character and to grow in a more open order. It 
was, indeed, a most pleasant portion of the island 
that we were now approaching. A heavy-scented 
broom and many flowering shrubs had almost taken 
the place of grass. Thickets of green nutmeg-trees 
were dotted here and there with the red columns and 
the broad shadow of the pines, and the first mingled 
their spice with the aroma of the others. The air, 
besides, was fresh and stirring, and this, under the 
sheer sunbeams, was a wonderful refreshment to our 
senses. 

The party spread itself abroad, in a fan shape, 
shouting and leaping to and fro. About the center, 
and a good way behind the rest. Silver and I followed 
— I tethered by my rope, he plowing, with deep pants, 
among the sliding gravel. From time to time, in- 
deed, I had to lend him a hand, or he must have miss- 
ed his footing and fallen backward down the hill. 

We had thus proceeded for about half a mile, and 
were approaching the brow of the plateau, when the 
man upon the farthest left began to cry aloud, as if 


TREASURE ISLAND 


201 


in terror. Shout after shout came from him, and the 
others began to run in his direction. 

“He can’t have found the treasure,” said old Mor- 
gan, hurrying past us from the right, “for that’s 
clean a-top.” 

Indeed, as we found when we also reached the 
spot, it was something very different. At the foot of 
a pretty big pine, and involved in a green creeper, 
which had even partly lifted some of the smaller 
bones, a human skeleton lay, with a few shreds of 
clothing, on the ground. I believe a chill struck for 
a moment to every heart. 

“He was a seaman,” said George Merry, who, bold- 
er than the rest, had gone up close, and was examin- 
ing the rags of clothing. “Leastways, this is good 
sea-cloth.” 

“Aye, aye,” said Silver, “like enough ; you wouldn’t 
look to find a bishop here, I reckon. But what sort of 
a way is that for bones to lie? 'Tain’t in natur’.” 

Indeed, on a second glance, it seemed impossible 
to fancy that the body was in a natural position. But 
for some disarray (the work, perhaps, of the birds 
that had fed upon him, or of the slow-growing creep- 
er that had gradually enveloped his remains) the 
man lay perfectly straight — his feet pointing in one 
direction, his hands raised above his head like a 
diver’s, pointing directly in the opposite. 

“I’ve taken a notion into my old numskull,” ob- 
served Silver. “Here’s the compass; there’s the tip- 
top p’int of Skeleton Island, stickin’ out like a tooth. 
Just take a bearing, will you, along the line of them 
bones.” 

It was done. The body pointed straight in the 
direction of the island, and the compass read duly 
E. S. E. by E. 

“I thought so,’^ cried the cook; “this here is a 
p’inter. Right up there is our line for the Pole Star 
and the jolly dollars. But by thunder! if it don’t 
make me cold inside to think of Flint. This is one 


202 


TREASURE ISLAND 


of his jokes, and no mistake. Him and these six was 
alone here; he killed ’em, every man; and this one 
he hauled here and laid down by compass, shiver my 
timbers! They’re long bones, and the hair’s been 
yellow. Aye, that would be Allardyce. You mind 
Allardyce, Tom Morgan?” 

“Aye, aye,” returned Morgan, “I mind him; he 
owed me money, he did, and took my knife ashore 
with him.” 

“Speaking of knives,” said another, “why don’t we 
find his’n lying round? Flint warn’t the man to pick 
a seaman’s pocket; and the birds, I guess, would 
leave it be.” 

“By the powers and that’s true!” cried Silver. 

“There ain’t a thing left here,” said Merry, still 
feeling round among the bones; “not a copper doit^ 
nor a baccy box. It don’t look nat’ral to me.” 

“No, by gum, it don’t,” agreed Silver; “not nat’ral, 
nor not nice, says you. Great guns ! messmates, but 
if Flint was living this would be a hot spot for you 
and me. Six they were, and six are we ; and bones is 
what they are now.” 

“I saw him dead with these here deadlights,” said 
Morgan. “Billy took me in. There he laid, with 
penny-pieces on his eyes.” 

“Dead — aye, sure enough he’s dead and gone be- 
low,” said the fellow with the bandage; “but if ever 
sperrit walked it would be Flint’s. Dear heart, but 
he died bad, did Flint!” 

“Aye, that he did,” observed another; “now he 
raged and now he hollered for the rum, and now he 
sung. ‘Fifteen Men’ were his only song, mates ; and 
I tell you true I never rightly liked to hear it since. 
It was main hot and the windy was open, and I hear 
that old song cornin’ out as clear as clear — and the 
death-haul on the man already.” 

“Come, come,” said Silver, “stow this talk. He’s 
dead, and he don’t walk, that I know; leastways he 


TREASURE ISLAND 


203 


won’t walk by day, and you may lay to that. Care 
killed a cat. Fetch ahead for the doubloons.” 

We started, certainly, but in spite of the hot sun 
and the staring daylight, the pirates no longer ran 
separate and shouting through the wood, but kept 
side by side and spoke with bated breath. The ter- 
ror of the dead buccaneer had fallen on their spirits. 


CHAPTER XXXII 

THE TREASURE-HUNT — THE VOICE AMONG THE TREES 

Partly from the damping influence of this alarm, 
partly to rest Silver and the sick folk, the whole 
party sat down as soon as they had gained the brow 
of the ascent. 

The plateau being somewhat tilted toward the west, 
this spot on which we had paused commanded a wide 
prospect on either hand. Before us, over the tree- 
tops, we beheld the Cape of the Woods fringed with 
surf; behind, we not only looked down upon the 
anchorage and Skeleton Island, but saw — clear across 
the spit and the eastern lowlands — a great field of 
open sea upon the east. Sheer above us rose the Spy- 
glass, here dotted with single pines, there black with 
precipices. There was no sound but that of the dis- 
tant breakers mounting from all around, and the 
chirp of countless insects in the brush. Not a man, 
not a sail upon the sea ; the very largeness of the view 
increased the sense of solitude. 

Silver, as he sat, took certain bearings with his 
compass. 

“There are three ‘tall trees,’ ” said he, “about in 
the right line from Skeleton Island. ‘Spy-glass 
Shoulder,’ I take it, means that lower p’int there. It’s 
child’s play to find the stuff now. I’ve half a mind 
to dine first.” 

“I don’t feel sharp,” growled Morgan. “Thinkin’ 
o’ Flint — I think it were — ’as done me.” 


20I^ TREASURE ISLAND 

“Ah, well, my son, you praise your stars he's dead," 
said Silver. 

“He was an ugly devil,” cried a third pirate, with 
a shudder; “that blue in the face, too!” 

“That was how the rum took him,” added Merry. 
“Blue! well I reckon he was blue. That’s a true 
word.” 

Ever since they had found the skeleton and got 
upon this train of thought they had spoken lower 
and lower, and they had almost got to whispering by 
now, so that the sound of their talk hardly interrupt- 
ed the silence of the wood. All of a sudden, out of 
the middle of the trees in front of us, a thin, high, 
and trembling voice struck up the well-known air and 
words : 

^‘Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest — 
Yo-ho-ho amd a bottle of rum!” 

I never have seen men more dreadfully affected 
than the pirates. The color went from their six faces 
like enchantment; some leaped to their feet, some 
clawed hold of others; Morgan groveled on the 
ground. 

“It’s Flint, by !” cried Merry. 

The song had stopped as suddenly as it began — 
broken off, you would have said, in the middle of a 
note, as though someone had laid his hand upon the 
singer’s mouth. Coming so far through the clear, 
sunny atmosphere among the green tree-tops, I 
thought it had sounded airily and sweetly, and the 
effect on my companions was the stranger. 

“Come,” said Silver, struggling with his ashen 
lips to get the word out, “that won’t do. Stand by 
to go about. This is a rum start, and I can’t name 
the voice, but it’s someone skylarking — someone 
that’s flesh and blood, and you may lay to that.” 

His courage had come back as he spoke, and some 
of the color to his face along with it. Already the 
others had begun to lend an ear to this encourage- 


TREASURE ISLAND 


205 


merit, and were coming a little to themselves, when 
the same voice broke out again — not this time sing- 
ing, but in a faint, distant hail, that echoed yet faint- 
er among the clefts of the Spy-glass. 

“Darby McGraw,” it wailed — for that is the word 
that best describes the sound — “Darby McGraw! 
Darby McGraw!” again and again and again; and 
then rising a little higher, and with an oath that I 
leave out: “Fetch aft the rum. Darby!” 

The buccaneers remained rooted to the ground, 
their eyes starting from their heads. Long after the 
voice had died away they still stared in silence, 
dreadfully, before them. 

“That fixes it!” gasped one. “Let’s go.” 

“They was his last words,” moaned Morgan, “his 
last words above-board.” 

Dick had his Bible out and was praying volubly. 
He had been well brought up, had Dick, before he 
came to sea and fell among bad companions. 

Still, Silver was unconquered. I could hear his 
teeth rattle in his head, but he had not yet surren- 
dered. 

“Nobody in this here island ever heard of Darby,” 
he muttered; “not one but us that’s here.” And 
then, making a great effort: “Shipmates,” he cried, 
“I’m here to get that stuff, and I’ll not be beat by man 
or devil. I never was feared of Flint in his life, and, 
by the powers. I’ll face him dead. There’s seven hun- 
dred thousand pound not a quarter of a mile from 
here. When did ever a gentleman o’ fortune show 
his stern to that much dollars for a boozy old seaman 
with a blue mug — and him dead, too?” 

But there was no sign of reawakening courage in 
his followers; rather, indeed, of growing terror at 
the irreverence of his words. 

“Belay there, John!” said Merry. “Don’t you cross 
a sperrit.” 

And the rest were all too terrified to reply. They 
would have run away severally had they dared, but 


206 


TREASURE ISLAND 


fear kept them together, and kept them close by John, 
as if his daring helped them. He, on his part, had 
pretty well fought his weakness down. 

“Sperrit? Well, may be,” he said. “But there’s 
one thing not clear to me. There was an echo. Now, 
no man ever seen a sperrit with a shadow. Well, 
then, what’s he doing with an echo to him, I should 
like to know? That ain’t in natur’, surely.” 

This argument seemed weak enough to me. But 
you can never tell what will affect the superstitious, 
and, to my wonder, George Merry was greatly re- 
lieved. 

“Well, that’s so,” he said. “You’ve a head upon 
your shoulders, John, and no mistake. ’Bout ship, 
mates! This here crew is on a wrong tack, I do be- 
lieve. And come to think on it, it was like Flint’s 
voice, I grant you, but not just so clear away like it, 
after all. It was liker somebody else’s voice now — 
it was like ” 

“By the powers, Ben Gunn!” roared Silver. 

“Aye, and so it were,” cried Morgan, springing on 
his knees. “Ben Gunn it were!” 

“It don’t make much odds, do it, now?” asked Dick. 
“Ben Gunn’s not here in the body, any more’n Flint.” 
But the older hands greeted this remark with scorn. 

“Why, nobody minds Ben Gunn,” cried Merry; 
“dead or alive, nobody minds him!” 

It was extraordinary how their spirits had return- 
ed, and how the natural color had revived in their 
faces. Soon they were chatting together, with in- 
tervals of listening; and not long after, hearing no 
further sound, they shouldered the tools and set forth 
again. Merry walking first with Silver’s compass to 
keep them on the right line with Skeleton Island. He 
had said the truth; dead or alive, nobody minded 
Ben Gunn. 

Dick alone still held his Bible, and looked around 
him as he went, with fearful glances, but he found 


TREASURE ISLAND 207 

no sympathy, and Silver even joked him on his pre- 
cautions. 

“I told you," said he, “I told you you had sp’iled 
your Bible, If it ain’t no good to swear by, what do 
you suppose a sperrit would give for it? Not that!" 
and he snapped his big fingers, halting a moment on 
his crutch. 

But Dick was not to be comforted; indeed, it was 
^on plain to me that the lad was falling sick; has- 
tened by heat, exhaustion, and the shock of his alarm, 
the fever, predicted by Doctor Livesey, was evidently 
growing swiftly higher. 

It was fine open walking here, upon the summit; 
our way lay a little downhill, for, as I have said, the 
plateau tilted toward the west. The pines, great and 
small, grew wide apart; and even between the clumps 
of nutmeg and azalea, wide open spaces baked in the 
hot sunshine. Striking, as we did, pretty near north- 
west across the island, we drew, on the other hand, 
ever nearer under the shoulders of the Spy-glass, and 
on the other, looked ever wider over that western bay 
where I had once tossed and trembled in the coracle. 

The first of the tall trees was reached, and by the 
bearing, proved the wrong one. So with the second. 
The third rose nearly two hundred feet into the air 
above a clump of underwood; a giant of a vegetable, 
with a red column as big as a cottage, and a wide 
shadow around in. which a company could have ma- 
neuvered. It was conspicuous far to sea, both on 
the east and west, and might have been entered as a 
sailing mark upon the chart. 

But it was not its size that now impressed my com- 
panions; it was the knowledge that seven hundred 
thousand pounds in gold lay somewhere buried below 
its spreading shadow. The thought of the money, as 
they drew nearer, swallowed up their previous ter- 
rors. Their eyes burned in their heads; their feet 
grew speedier and lighter; their whole soul was 
bound up in that fortune, that whole lifetime of ex- 


208 TREASURE ISLAND 

travagance and pleasure, that lay waiting there for 
each of them. 

Silver hobbled, grunting, on his crutch ; his nostrils 
stood out and quivered; he cursed like a madman 
when the flies settled on his hot and shiny counte- 
nance; he plucked furiously at the line that held me 
to him, and, from time to time, turned his eyes upon 
me with a deadly look. Certainly he took no pains 
to hide his thoughts; and certainly I read them like 
print. In the immediate nearness of the gold, all 
else had been forgotten ; his promise and the doctor’s 
warning were both things of the past; and I could 
not doubt that he hoped to seize upon the treasure, 
find and board the Hispaniola under cover of night, 
cut every honest throat about that island, and sail 
away as he had at first intended, laden with crimes 
and riches. 

Shaken as I was with these alarms, it was hard for 
me to keep up with the rapid pace of the treasure- 
hunters. Now and again I tumbled, and it was then 
that Silver plucked so roughly at the rope and 
launched at me his murderous glances. Dick, who 
had dropped behind us, and now brought up the rear, 
was babbling to himself both prayers and curses, as 
his fever kept rising. This also added to my wretch- 
edness, and, to crown all, I was haunted by the 
thought of the tragedy that had once been acted on 
that plateau, when that ungodly buccaneer with the 
blue face — he who had died at Savannah, singing 
and shouting for drink — had there, with his own 
hand, cut down his six accomplices. This grove, that 
was now so peaceful, must then have rung with cries, 
I thought; and even with the thought I could believe 
I heard it ringing still. 

We were now at the margin of the thicket. 

“Huzza, mates, all together!” shouted Merry, and 
the foremost broke into a run. 

And suddenly, not ten yards farther, we beheld 
them stop. A low cry arose. Silver doubled his pace,. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


209 


digging away with the foot of his crutch like one 
possessed, and next moment he and I had come also 
to a dead halt. 

Before us was a great excavation, not very recent, 
for the sides had fallen in and grass had sprouted on 
the bottom. In this were the shaft of a pick broken 
in two and the boards of several packing cases 
strewn around. On one of these boards I saw, 
branded with a hot iron, the name “Walrus” — the 
name of Flint’s ship. 

All was clear to probation.^ The cache had been 
found and rifled — the seven hundred thousand 
pounds were gone! 


CHAPTER XXXIII 
THE FALL OF A CHIEFTAIN 

There never was such an overturn in this world. 
Each of these six men was as though he had been 
struck. But with Silver the blow passed almost in- 
stantly. Every thought of his soul had been set 
full-stretch, like a racer, on that money; well, he was 
brought up in a single second, dead; and he kept his 
head, found his temper, and changed his plan before 
the others had had time to realize the disappoint- 
ment. 

“Jim,” he whispered, “take that, and stand by for 
trouble.” 

And he passed me a double-barreled pistol. 

At the same time he began quietly moving north- 
ward, and in a few steps nad put the hollow between 
us two and the other five. Then he looked at me 
and nodded, as much as to say: “Here is a narrow 
corner,” as, indeed, I thought it was. His looks 
were now quite friendly, and I was so revolted at 
these constant changes that I could not forbear whis- 
pering: “So you’ve changed sides again.” 


210 


TREASURE ISLAND 


There was no time left for him to answer in. The 
buccaneers, with oaths and cries, began to leap, one 
after another, into the pit, and to dig with their 
fingers, throwing the boards aside as they did so. 
Morgan found a piece of gold. He held it up with 
a perfect spout of oaths. It was a two-guinea piece, 
and it went from hand to hand among them for a 
quarter of a minute. 

“Two guineas!” roared Merry, shaking it at Sil- 
ver. That’s your seven hundred thousand pounds, is 
it? You’re the man for bargains, ain’t you? You’re 
him that never bungled nothing, you wooden-headed 
lubber!” 

“Dig away, boys,” said Silver, with the coolest 
insolence ; “you’ll find some pig-nuts, and I shouldn’t 
wonder.” 

“Pig-nuts!” repeated Merry, in a scream. 
“Mates, do you hear that? I tell you now, that 
man there knew it all along. Look in the face of 
him, and you’ll see it wrote there.” 

“Ah, Merry,” remarked Silver, “standing for cap’n 
again? You’re a pushing lad, to be sure.” 

But this time everyone was entirely in Merry’s 
favor. They began to scramble out of the excava- 
tion, darting furious glances behind them. One thing 
I observed, which looked well for us; they all got 
out upon the opposite side from Silver. 

Well, there we stood, two on one side, five on the 
other, the pit between us, and nobody screwed up 
high enough to offer the first blow. Silver never 
moved ; he watched them, very upright on his crutch, 
and looked as cool as ever I saw him. He was brave 
and no mistake. 

At last. Merry seemed to think a speech might 
help matters. 

“Mates,” says he, “there’s two of them alone 
there; one’s the old cripple that brought us all here 
and blundered us down to this ; the other’s that cub 
that I mean to have the heart of. Now, mates ” 


TREASURE ISLAND 


211 


He was raising his arm and his voice, and plainly- 
meant to lead a charge. But just then — crack! 
crack ! crack 1 — three musket-shots flashed out of the 
thicket. Merry tumbled head-foremost into the ex- 
cavation ; the man with the bandage spun round like 
a teetotum, and fell all his length upon his side, 
where he lay dead, but still twitching; and the other 
three turned and ran for it with all their might. 

Before you could wink Long John had fired two 
barrels of a pistol into the struggling Merry; and 
as the man rolled up his eyes at him in the last 
agony, “George,” said he, “I reckon I settled you.” 

At the same moment the doctor. Gray, and Ben 
Gunn joined us, with smoking muskets, from among 
the nutmeg trees. > 

“Forward!” cried the doctor. “Double quick, my 
lads. We must head ’em off the boats.” 

And we set off at a great pace, sometimes plunging 
through the bushes to the chest. 

I tell you, but Silver was anxious to keep up with 
us. The work that man went through, leaping on 
his crutch till the muscles of his chest were fit to 
burst, was work no sound man ever equaled; and so 
thinks the doctor. As it was, he was already thirty 
yards behind us, and on the verge of strangling, when 
we reached the brow of the slope. 

“Doctor,” he hailed, “see there! no hurry!” 

Sure enough there was no hurry. In a more open 
part of the plateau we could see the three survivors 
still running in the same direction as they had 
started, right for Mizzen-mast Hill. We were already 
between them and the boats, and so we four sat down 
to breathe, while Long John, mopping his face, came 
slowly up with us. 

“Thank ye kindly, doctor,” says he. “You came in 
in about the nick, I guess, for me and Hawkins. And 
so it’s you, Ben Gunn!” he added. “Well, you’re a 
nice one, to be sure.” 

“I’m Ben Gunn, I am,” replied the maroon, wrig- 


212 


TREASURE ISLAND 


gling like an eel in his embarrassment. “And," he 
added, after a long pause, “how do, Mr. Silver ! Pretty 
well, I thank ye, says you.” 

“Ben, Ben,” murmured Silver, “to think as you’ve 
done me.” 

The doctor sent back Gray for one of the pick-axes, 
deserted, in their flight, by the mutineers ; and then 
as we proceeded leisurely downhill to where the boats 
were lying, related, in a few words, what had taken 
place. It was a story that profoundly interested Sil- 
ver, and Ben Gunn, the half-idiot maroon, was the 
hero from beginning to end. 

Ben, in his long, lonely wanderings about the 
island, had found the skeleton. It was he that had 
rifled it; he had found the treasure; he had dug it 
up (it was the haft of his pick-ax that lay broken in 
the excavation) ; he had carried it on his back, in 
many weary journeys, from the foot of the tall pine 
to a cave he had on the two-pointed hill at the north- 
east angle of the island, and there it had lain stored 
in safety since two months before the arrival of the 
Hispaniola. 

When the doctor had wormed this secret from him, 
on the afternoon of the attack, and when, next morn- 
ing, he saw the anchorage deserted, he had gone to 
Silver, given him the chart, which was now useless; 
given him the stores, for Ben Gunn’s cave was well 
supplied with goats’ meat salted by himself; given 
anything and everything to get a chance of moving 
in safety from the stockade to the two-pointed hill, 
there to be clear of malaria and keep a guard upon 
the money. 

“As for you, Jim,” he said, “it went against my 
heart, but I did what I thought best for those who 
had stood by their duty; and if you were not one of 
these, whose fault was it?” 

That morning, finding that I was to be involved in 
the horrid disappointment he had prepared for the 
mutineers, he had run all the way to the cave, and. 


TREASURE ISLAND 


21S 


leaving squire to guard the captain, had taken Gray 
and the maroon, and started, making the diagonal 
across the island, to be at hand beside the pine. 
Soon, however, he saw that our party had the start 
of him; and Ben Gunn, being fleet of foot, had been 
dispatched in front to do his best alone. Then it 
had occurred to him to work upon the superstitions 
of his former shipmates; and he was so far successful 
that Gray and the doctor had come up and were al- 
ready ambushed before the arrival of the treasure 
hunters. 

“Ah," said Silver, “it was fortunate for me that I 
had Hawkins here. You would have let old John be 
cut to bits, and never given it a thought, doctor." 

“Not a thought," replied Doctor Livesey, cheerily. 

And by this time we had reached the gigs. The 
doctor, with the pick-ax, demolished one of them, and 
then we all got aboard the other, and set out to go 
round by the sea for North Inlet. 

This was a run of eight or nine miles. Silver, 
though he was almost killed already with fatigue, 
was set to an oar, like the rest of us, and we were 
soon skimming swiftly over a smooth sea. Soon we 
passed out of the straits and doubled the southeast 
corner of the island, round which, four days ago, we 
had towed the Hispaniola. 

As we passed the two-pointed hill we could see the 
black mouth of Ben Gunn’s cave, and a figure stand- 
ing by it, leaning on a musket. It was the squire, 
and we waved a handkerchief and gave him three 
cheers, in which the voice of Silver joined as heartily 
as any. 

Three miles farther, just inside the mouth of North 
Inlet, what should we meet but the Hispaniola, cruis- 
ing by herself. The last flood had lifted her, and had 
there been much wind, or a strong tide current, as 
in the southern anchorage, we should never have 
found her more, or found her stranded beyond help. 
As it was, there was little amiss, beyond the wreck 


TREASURE ISLAND 


21U 

of the mainsail. Another anchor was got ready, and 
dropped in a fathom and a half of water. We all 
pulled round again to Rum Cove, the nearest point 
for Ben Gunn’s treasure-house; and then Gray, 
single-handed, returned with the gig to the Hispani- 
ola, where he was to pass the night on guard. 

A gentle slope ran up from the beach to the en- 
trance of the cave. At the top, the squire met us. 
To me he was cordial and kind, saying nothing of 
my escapade, either in the way of blame or praise. 
At Silver’s polite salute he somewhat flushed. 

“John Silver,” he said, “you’re a prodigious vil- 
lain and impostor — a monstrous impostor, sir. I am 
told I am not to prosecute you. Well, then, I will 
not. But the dead men, sir, hang about your neck 
like millstones.” 

“Thank you kindly, sir,” replied Long John, again 
saluting. 

“How dare you to thank me!” cried the squire. 
“It is a gross dereliction of my duty. Stand back!” 

And thereupon we all entered the cave. It was a 
large, airy place, with a little spring and a pool of 
clear water, overhung with ferns. The floor was 
sand. Before a big fire lay Captain Smollett; and 
in a far corner, only duskily flickered over by the 
blaze, I beheld great heaps of coin and quadrilaterals 
built of bars of gold. That was Flint’s treasure that 
we had come so far to seek, and that had cost already 
the lives of seventeen men from the Hispaniola. How 
many it had cost in the amassing, what blood and 
sorrow, what good ships scuttled on the deep, what 
brave men walking the plank blindfold, what shot of 
cannon, what shame and lies and cruelty, perhaps no 
man alive could tell. Yet there were still three upon 
that island — Silver, and old Morgan, and Ben Gunn 
— who had each taken his share in these crimes, as 
each had hoped in vain to share in the reward. 

“Come in, Jim,” said the captain. “You’re a good 
boy in your line, Jim; but I don’t think you and me’ll 


TREASURE ISLAND 


215 


go to sea again. You’re too much of the born favor- 
ite for me. Is that you, John Silver? What brings 
you here, man?” 

“Come back to do my dooty, sir,” returned Silver. 

“Ah!” said the captain, and that was all he said. 

What a supper I had of it that night, with all my 
friends around me ; and what a meal it was, with Ben 
Gunn’s salted goat, and some delicacies and a bottle 
of old wine from the Hispaniola. Never, I am sure, 
were people gayer or happier. And there was Silver, 
sitting back almost out of the fire-light, but eating 
heartily, prompt to spring forward when anything 
was wanted, even joining quietly in our laughter — 
the same bland, polite, obsequious seaman of the 
voyage out. 


CHAPTER XXXIV 

AND LAST 

The next morning we fell early to work, for the 
transportation of this great mass of gold near a mile 
by land to the beach, and thence three miles by boat 
to the Hispaniola, was a considerable task for so 
small a number of workmen. The three fellows still 
abroad upon the island did not greatly trouble us; 
a single sentry on the shoulder of the hill was suffi- 
cient to insure us against any sudden onslaught, and 
we thought, besides, they had had more than enough 
of fighting. 

Therefore the work was pushed on briskly. Gray 
and Ben Gunn came and went with the boat, while 
the rest during their absence piled treasure on the 
beach. Two of the bars, slung in a rope’s end, made 
a good load for a grown man — one that he was glad 
to walk slowly with. For my part, as I was not 
much use at carrying, I was kept busy all day in 
the cave, packing the minted money into bread-bags. 

It was a strange collection, like Billy Bones' hoard 


216 


TREASURE ISLAND 


for the diversity of coinage, but so much larger and 
so much more varied that I think I never had more 
pleasure than in sorting them. English, French, 
Spanish, Portuguese, Georges, and Louises, doub- 
loons and double guineas and moidores,^ and se- 
quins,2 the pictures of all the kings of Europe for the 
last hundred years, strange oriental pieces stamped 
with what looked like wisps of string or bits of 
spider’s web, round pieces and square pieces, and 
pieces bored through the middle, as if to wear them 
round your neck — nearly every variety of money in 
the world must, I think, have found a place in that 
collection, and for number, I am sure they were like 
autumn leaves, so that my back ached with stooping 
and my fingers with sorting them out. 

Day after day this work went on ; by every evening 
a fortune had been stowed aboard, but there was an- 
other fortune waiting for the morrow; and all this 
time we heard nothing of the three surviving muti- 
neers. 

At last — I think it was on the third night — the 
doctor and I were strolling on the shoulder of the 
hill where it overlooks the lowlands of the isle, when, 
from out the thick darkness below, the wind brought 
us a noise between shrieking and singing. It was 
only a snatch that reached our ears, followed by the 
former silence. 

“Heaven forgive them,” said the doctor; “ ’tis the 
mutineers!” 

“All drunk, sir,” struck in the voice of Silver from 
behind us. 

Silver, I should say, was allowed his entire liberty, 
and, in spite of daily rebuffs, seemed to regard him- 
self once more as quite a privileged and friendly de- 
pendent. Indeed, it was remarkable how well he 
bore these slights, and with what unwearying polite- 
ness he kept at trying to ingratiate himself with all. 
Yet, I think, none treated him better than a dog, un- 
less it was Ben Gunn, who was still terribly afraid 


TREASURE ISLAND 


217 


of his old quartermaster, or myself, who had really 
something to thank him for; although for that mat- 
ter, I suppose, I had reason to think even worse of 
him than anybody else, for I had seen him meditating 
a fresh treachery upon the plateau. Accordingly, it 
was pretty gruffly that the doctor answered him. 

“Drunk or raving?” said he. 

“Right you were, sir,” replied Silver; “ and pre- 
cious little odds which, to you and me.” 

“I suppose you would hardly ask me to call you a 
humane man,” returned the doctor, with a sneer, 
“and so my feelings may surprise you. Master Silver. 
But if I were sure they were raving — as I am morally 
certain one, at least, of them is down with fever — I 
should leave this camp, and, at whatever risk to my 
own carcass, take them the assistance of my skill.” 

“Ask your pardon, sir, you would be very wrong,” 
quoth Silver. “You would lose your precious life, 
and you may lay to that. I’m on your side now, hand 
and glove; and I shouldn’t wish for to see the party 
weakened, let alone yourself, seeing as I know what 
I owes you. But these men down there, they couldn’t 
keep their word — no, not supposing they wished to — 
and what’s more, they couldn’t believe as you could.” 

“No,” said the doctor. “You’re the man to keep 
your word, we know that.” 

Well, that was about the last news we had of the 
three pirates. Only once we heard a gunshot a great 
w'ay off, and supposed them to be hunting. A council 
was held and it was decided that we must desert them 
on the island — to the huge glee, I must say, of Ben 
Gunn, and with the strong approval of Gray. We 
left a good stock of powder and shot, the bulk of 
the salt goat, a few medicines and some other neces- 
saries, tools, clothing, a spare sail, a fathom or two 
of rope, and, by the particular desire of the doctor, 
a handsome present of tobacco. 

That was about our last doing on the island. Be- 
fore that we had got the treasure stowed and had 


218 


TREASURE ISLAND 


shipped enough water and the remainder of the goat 
meat, in case of any distress; and at last, one fine 
morning, we weighed anchor, which was about all 
that we could manage, and stood out of North Inlet, 
the same colors flying that the captain had flown and 
fought under at the palisade. 

The three fellows must have been watching us 
closer than we thought for, as we soon had proved. 
For, coming through the narrows we had to lie very 
near the southern point, and there we saw all three 
of them kneeling together on a spit of sand with 
their arms raised in supplication. It went to all 
our hearts, I think, to leave them in that wretched 
state, but we could not risk another mutiny, and to 
take them home for the gibbet would have been a 
cruel sort of kindness. The doctor hailed them and 
told them of the stores we had left, and where they 
were to find them, but they continued to call us by 
name and appeal to us, for God’s sake, to be merciful 
and not leave them to die in such a place. 

At last, seeing the ship still bore on her course, 
and was now swiftly drawing out of ear-shot, one 
of them — I know not which it was — leaped to his 
feet with a hoarse cry, whipped his musket to his 
shoulder, and sent a shot whistling over Silver’s head 
and through the mainsail. 

After that we kept under cover of the bulwarks, 
and when next I looked out they had disappeared 
from the spit, and the spit itself had almost melted 
out of sight in the growing distance. That was, at 
least, the end of that; and before noon, to my in- 
expressible joy, the highest rock of Treasure Island 
had sunk into the blue round of sea. 

We were so short of men that everyone on board 
had to bear a hand — only the captain lying on a 
mattress in the stern and giving his orders, for 
though greatly recovered he was still in want of 
quiet. We laid her head for the nearest port in 
Spanish America, for we could not risk the voyage 


TREASURE ISLAND 


219 


home without fresh hands ; and as it was, what with 
baffling winds and a couple of fresh gales, we were 
all worn out before we reached it. 

It was just at sundown when we cast anchor in a 
most beautiful land-locked gulf, and were immedi- 
ately surrounded by shore-boats full of negroes and 
Mexican Indians and half-bloods, selling fruits and 
vegetables, and offering to dive for bits of money. 
The sight of so many good-humored faces (especial- 
ly the blacks), the taste of the tropical fruits, and 
above all, the lights that began to shine in the town, 
made a most charming contrast to our dark and 
bloody sojourn on the island; and the doctor and the 
squire, taking me along with them, went ashore to 
pass the early part of the night. Here they met the 
captain of an English man-of-war, fell in talk with 
him, went on board his ship, and in short, had so 
agreeable a time that day was breaking when we 
came alongside the Hispaniola. 

Ben Gunn was on deck alone, and as soon as we 
came on board he began, with wonderful contortions, 
to make us a confession. Silver was gone. The 
maroon had connived at his escape in a shore-boat 
some hours ago, and he now assured us he had only 
done so to preserve our lives, which would certainly 
have been forfeited if “that man with the one leg 
had stayed aboard.” ■ But this was not all. The sea- 
cook had not gone empty-handed. He had cut through 
a bulk-head unobserved, and had removed one of the 
sacks of coin, worth, perhaps, three or four hundred 
guineas, to help him on his further wanderings. 

I think we were all pleased to be so cheaply quit 
of him. 

Well, to make a long story short, we got a few 
hands on board, made a good cruise home, and the 
Hispaniola reached Bristol just as Mr. Blandly was 
beginning to think of fitting out her consort. Five 
men only of those who had sailed returned with her. 
“Drink and the devil had done for the rest” with a 


220 


TREASURE ISLAND 


vengeance, although, to be sure, we were not quite 
in so bad a case as that other ship they sung about: 

“With one man of the crew alive, 

What put to sea ivith seventy-five ” 

All of us had an ample share of the treasure, and 
used it wisely or foolishly, according to our natures. 
Captain Smollett is now retired from the sea. Gray 
not only saved his money, but, being suddenly smit 
with the desire to rise, also studied his profession, 
and he is now mate and part owner of a fine, full- 
rigged ship; married besides, and the father of a 
family. As for Ben Gunn, he got a thousand pounds, 
which he spent or lost in three weeks, or, to be more 
exact, in nineteen days, for he was back begging on 
the twentieth. Then he was given a lodge to keep, 
exactly as he had feared upon the island ; and he still 
lives, a great favorite, though something of a butt 
with the country boys, and a notable singer in church 
on Sundays and saints’ days. 

Of Silver we have heard no more. That formida- 
ble seafaring man with one leg has at last gone clean 
out of my life, but I dare say he met his old negress, 
and perhaps still lives in comfort with her and 
Captain Flint. It is to be hoped so, I suppose, for 
his chances of comfort in another world are very 
small. 

The bar silver and the arms still lie, for all that I 
know, where Flint buried them; and certainly they 
shall lie there for me. Oxen and wain-ropes^ would 
not bring me back again to that accursed island, and 
the worst dreams that ever I have are when I hear 
the surf booming about its coasts, or start upright 
in bed, with the sharp voice of Captain Flint still 
ringing in my ears: “Pieces of eight! pieces of 
eight!” 


THE END 


EXPLANATORY NOTES 

13, 1. Hand-barrow. Wheelbarrow, a kind of hand- 
cart with two handles and usually one wheel. 

2. Capstan bars. A capstan is an upright cylinder 
which revolves upon an iron pivot, used for raising heavy 
weights on shipboard. The levers by which the capstan 
is worked are called capstan bars. The sailors while work- 
ing at the capstan sang various sea songs. 

14, 1. Mougbt. Might. 

2. Sailed before the mast. Was a common sailor in 
contrast to an officer whose quarters were back of the 
mast. 

3. Royal George. An English inn. 

16 1. Walking the plank. Pirates often compelled their 
captives to walk along a plank laid across the bulwarks 
of a ship until they overbalanced it and fell into the sea. 

2. Dry Tortugas. A group of coral islands situated 
in the Gulf of Mexico at the extreme west of the Florida 
Keys. 

3. Spanish Main. The Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity 
of the Spanish colonies on the mainland of Central and 
South America. 

17, 1. Hawker. A peddler. 

2. Cocks. Flaps formed by fastening the brim of a 
hat to the crown in one or more places. Cocked hats 
were in general use during the last century. 

19, 1. Assizes. The sessions held in English counties 
by judges of the Supreme Court for the trial of civil and 
criminal cases. 

2. Cutlass. A short, curved sword used by sailors. 

23, 1. . Swinging. Hanging. 

24, 1. Opened a vein. Opening a vein, for letting 

blood, in the treatment of disease, was formerly prac- 
tised by physicians. • 

25, 1. On your own back. The expression “black 
dog” denotes the spirit of ill humor or melancholy. Hence 
to have “a black dog on one’s back” means to be despond- 
ent or in trouble. 

26, 1. Noggin. A small cup or mug; also a small 
quantity of drink. 

2. Swabs. Sailors’ slang for a clumsy, or useless per- 
son. 


222 


EXPLANATORY NOTES 


3. Yellow Jack. Yellow fever. 

4. Lee shore. Shore opposite to that against which 
the wind blows — a dangerous position in stormy weather; 
hence, “to be on a lee shore,” to be in difficulty or danger. 

5. Fidges. Fidgets. 

27, 1. Lubbers. Awkward or unskilled seamen. 

2. Shake out another reef. To let out more sail, thus 
making better speed. As here used, to get away or es- 
cape. 

3. Daddle. Usually, to act slowly or feebly; here, 
to trick or deceive. 

28, 1. Pipe. In nautical language, to convey orders 
by signals on a whistle known as a pipe; hence, to call 
or summon. 

2. Peach. Slang for betray. 

3. Eat. Pronounced et. An obsolete form of the 
past tense of “eat.” 

33, 1. Lugger. A small vessel with two or three masts 
and lug sails; ie, four-sided sails fastened to spars hung 
obliquely to the masts. 

35, 1. Gully. A large sheath-knife. 

36, 1. Doubloon. A Spanish coin valued at about $8. 

2. Louis d’or. A French coin valued at about $4.50. 

3. Guineas. The guinea was an English coin worth 
twenty-one shillings ($5.11). 

4. Pieces of eight. The old Spanish silver dollars 
bearing the numeral 8 and of the value of 8 reals, a real 
being reckoned at 121^ cents. 

39, 1. Flint’s Fist. Flint’s handwriting or signature. 

40, 1. Hang a leg. Hang back; hesitate. 

2. Malingering. Shirking duty. 

3. Georges. English coins; so called because St. 
George’s image was stamped upon them. 

42, 1. Cutter. A small, fast-sailing vessel. 

46, 1. Blackbeard. The popular name of Edward 
Teach, a pirate greatly feared for his atrocities in the 
West Indies and along the coast of Carolina and Virginia. 

48, 1. Cache. A hiding place for food or supplies. 

49, 1. Blades. Wild or reckless fellows. 

51, 1. A pretty rum go. It is queer. 

52. 1. Hawke. A Britisn admiral who, in 1747, off 
Belle Isle, defeated a French fleet that was preparing for 
an invasion of England. 

2. Tarpaulins. A colloquial expression meaning 
sailors. 

3. Post. Speedily. 

54, 1. Figureheads. Carved images of a human or 
other shape placed at the prow of a ship. 


EXPLANATORY NOTES 


223 


57, 1. You may lay to that. You may be sure of that. 

2. Dead-eye. A round, flat block of wood pierced 
with three holes to receive ropes. 

3. Keel-hauling. A former nautical punishment in 
which the victim was dragged under water beneath the 
bottom o'f the ship from one side to the other. 

58, 1. Old Bailey. A famous criminal court in Lon- 
don, England. (See Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities for a 
graphic description.) 

2. Bow Street runner. A London policeman. Bow 
Street is the name of a police court in England. 

3. Dead-lights. Sailors’ slang for eyes. 

4. Broached him to. A nautical expression meaning 
to veer suddenly into the wind, so as to expose the vessel 
to the danger of capsizing. The phrase as here used 
means to stop or halt. 

59, 1. Davy. Affidavit. 

2. Stand by to go about. To stand by is to be ready. 
To go about is to change the course of a vessel. The 
phrase here means “set about our affairs.” 

63, 1. Every man Jack. Every one without exception. 
Jack or Jack Tar is the popular nickname for sailors. 

64, 1. Galley. The cook house of a ship. 

2. Forecastle. The forward part of a ship where the 
sailors have living quarters. 

3. Companion. The stairway leading from the deck 
to the cabin of a ship. 

67, 1. Tip us a stave. Stave, in music, is the same as 
staff. The whole phrase here is a slang expression mean- 
ing “Give us a spng.” 

69, 1. Lanyard. A cord worn around the neck by 
sailors. 

2. Bulkhead. A partition separating the compart- 
ments of a ship below deck. 

70, 1. Plate ships. Spanish treasure ships from Amer- 
ica. In 1702 the fleet was sunk to prevent the English 
from seizing the treasure on board. 

2. Viceroy of the Indies. A ship belonging to the 
Portuguese government, seized by pirates. 

71, 1. Duff. A stiff flour pudding, boiled in a bag. 

2. Waist. The middle part of a ship. 

3. Trades. Trade winds that prevail over the oceans 
in equatorial regions, flowing toward the equator in an 
easterly direction. 

4. Abeam. On a line forming a right angle with the 
ship’s keel. 

5. Bowsprit. A large spar running out from the for- 
ward end of a ship. 


22U 


EXPLANATORY NOTES 


6. All was drawing alow and aloft. All sails were 
filled with the wind. 

72, 1. Watching the luff. Luff is the term for the act 
of turning the head of a ship toward the wind. Watching 
the sails fill with wind is probably meant here., 

2. Along of. On account of. 

73, 1. Davis. Captain Howel Davis, a daring pirate. 

2. Hatches. Covers of openings in a ship’s deck. 

74, 1. Brings a slip on his cable. Tries to escape. 

75, 1. Bum-boat. A boat for peddling provisions 
among vessels in port or off shore. 

76, 1. Blunt. Money. 

2. Execution Dock. A place in London where crimi- 
nals were hanged. 

79, 1. Sheeted home. Sails extended as much as possi- 
ble. 

80, 1. Captain Kidd. A British pirate who was hang- 
ed at Execution Dock in 1701. 

2. Careen. To tip a vessel on one side for the pur- 
pose of cleaning or repairing. 

82, 1. Look well from a yard-arm. A yard-arm is 
either end of the spar which holds the sail of a square- 
rigged vessel. The Captain here refers to the old cus- 
tom of hanging mutinous sailors from the yard-arm. 

85, 1. Scuppers. Holes in the sides of a ship to carry 
off deck water. 

83, 1. Warped. Towed by attachment to something 
fixed, as a buoy or an anchor. 

2. Conned. Directed how to steer. 

3. Man in the chains. The man in the anchor chains 
who was taking soundings. 

4. Scour with the ebb. Sand was carried out by the 
flow of the ebb-tide. 

88, 1. Gigs. Long, light ship’s boats, usually reserved 
for the commanders. 

97, 1. Gaskin. A rare form of “gasket,” a plaited cord 
by which a ship’s sails are furled or tied to the yard. 

98, 1. Stone. An English measure of weight varying 
in value. A stone of cheese is sixteen pounds. 

2. Chuck-farthen. An old game in which coins were 
chucked or pitched into a hole. 

99, 1. Clove hitch. Literally, a kind of sailor’s knot; 
figuratively, as here, a tight place. 

100, 1. Cutwater. The fore part of a ship’s prow 
which cuts the water. The expression “white about the 
cutwater” probably means the same as our phrase 
“white about the gills.” 

103, 1. Lillibullero. A political ballad written as a 


EXPLANATORY NOTES 


225 


satire on James II of England. It was popular in Eng- 
land during and after the Revolution of 1688 in which 
James was depoged. 

2. Jolly-boat. A ship’s small boat used for general 
rough work. 

105, 1. Dot and carry one. An expression usually in- 
dicating a regular, methodical process, but here, evident- 
ly, the reverse; hence, an irregular beating of the heart. 

108, 1. Painter. A rope for fastening a boat. 

2. Counter. That part of a ship lying between the 
water-line and the knuckle of the stern. (See illustration 
in Webster’s Dictionary.) 

3. Hang so long in stays. Delay. 

109, 1. Gallipot. A small earthenware vessel or jar. 

2. Gunwale. The upper edge of a ship’s side. 

3. Lipping astern. Sinking or dipping under the 
water in the stern. 

110, 1. Long nine. A gun throwing a nine-pound 
shot. 

113, 1. Bandoleer. A broad belt formerly worn over 
the shoulder and across the hreast and used for suspend- 
ing articles by the side. 

119, 1. Noon observation to six bells. From 12 tO 3 
P. M. The divisions of daily time on shipboard are mark- 
ed by bells which are struck every half hour. The day, 
beginning with midnight, is divided into watches of four 
hours each, except the time between 4 and 8 P. M., which 
is divided into two short watches, called dog-watches. A 
full watch consists of eight half hours, and its progress 
is noted by the number of strokes on the bell. Thus, one 
o’clock P. M. is equivalent to two bells, three o’clock to 
six bells, etc. 

120, 1. Spit. A point of land extending into the sea. 

122, 1. Piping the eye. Weeping. 

126, 1. Main. Very, exceedingly. 

128, 1. Avast. Stop, hold. 

129, 1. Davy Jones. Destruction. According to sail- 
ors’ msrthology Davy Jones is the demon that presides 
over the evil spirits of the deep. 

131, 1. Doldrums. A sailor’s term for that part of 
the ocean near the equator where calms and variable 
winds prevail. 

141, 1. Truck. A circular piece of wood or metal fix- 
ed on the head of each of a vessel’s highest masts, usual- 
ly having holes in it for reeving flag or signal halyards. 

142, 1. Thwart. Rower’s seat in a boat. 

2. Coracle. A small boat made of basketwork cover- 
ed with leather, oilcloth, or the like. 


226 EXPLANATORY NOTES 

144, 1. Spars. A general term for a mast, yard, boom, 
etc. 

2. Hull. The body or frame of a vessel. 

3. Hawser. A large rope for towing or securing a 
ship. 

147, 1. Yawed. Moved from the right course. 

154, 1. Jib-boom. A spar on which the jib or three- 
cornered sail of a vessel is set. It runs out from the ex- 
' tremity of the bowsprit and serves as a continuation of it. 

2. Flying jib. A triangular sail set upon a stay for- 
ward of the foremast (See illustration under “sail” in 
Webster’s Dictionary.) 

163, 1. I’ve missed stays. Literally, to fail in the at- 
tempt to go about from one tack to another; here, to be 
undone. 

170, 1. Doused. Lowered. 

176, 1, Link. A torch made of pitch and tow or 
coarse flax. 

177, 1. Batten down your hatches. Be silent. 

2. Dog-watch. The first dog-watch is from 4 to 6 P, M. 
and the second from 6 to 8 P. M. The morning watch 
(8 A. M. to noon) instead of the dog-watch was evidently 
meant here. 

180, 1. Cock his hat athwart my hawser. Defy or 
challenge me. 

185, 1. To play booty. To play so as to mislead one’s 
opponent; hence, to play dishonestly. 

190, 1. Supercargo. An officer of a merchant ship. 

193, 1. Gammon. Deceive. 

194, 1, Holus bolus. All of it. 

196, 1. Junk. Salt beef or pork supplied to ships for 
long voyages. 

202, 1. Doit. A Dutch coin of trifling value. 

209, 1. Clear to probation. Clearly proved. 

216, 1. Moidores. Old Portuguese coins worth about 
$6.50. 

2. Sequins. Gold Venetian coins of about $2.25 
value. 

220, 1. Wain-ropes. Wain is an archaic word for 
wagon. 


QUESTIONS 

1. What is your first impression of the old seaman? 

2. Where is the first hint given that he has been a 
pirate? What was his real name? 

3. Why was he in hiding? Why did he fear Doctor 
Livesey? 

4. Describe his life at the Admiral Benbow Inn. 

5. Why do you think “Black Dog” came to see the 
“Captain”? Explain the effect of his visit. 

6. Why did the “Captain” wish to leave the Inn? 

7. Note that repeated reference is made to the “sea- 
faring man with one leg.” What is the effect of this? 

8. Why is the blind man’s coming so important in the 
development of the story? 

9. What was the “black spot”? 

10. Mention the articles found in the sea chest. What 
was in the oilckjn packet? 

11. For what were the pirates searching? 

12. What plan did Squire Trelawney and Doctor Live- 
sey adopt after reading the sealed paper in the packet? 

13. Had they any right to keep this paper from the 
pirates? Why? 

14. What do you learn about the pirate Flint in Chap- 
ter VI? 

15. Summarize the part played by Jim Hawkins in the 
story as far as the end of Part I. 

16. Characterize Doctor Livesey as he appears in 
Part I. 

17. What caused the party’s delay in putting to sea? 

18. What in the prospect was so attractive to Jim? 
How do you think you would have felt had you been in 
his place? 

19. From the letter which Squire Trelawney wrote to 
Jim what mistake do you learn the Squire made? 

20. What does the letter reveal of the Squire’s char- 
acter? Do the characteristics seen here seem consistent 
with those he has previously shown? Explain in some 
detail. 

21. What occurred at the “Spy-Glass” to arouse Jim’s 
suspicions? How did Silver quiet these suspicions? 

22. What opinion did the Squire, Dr. Livesey, and Jim 
at first form concerning John Silver? Were they at 
fault in not detecting his real nature? 


228 QUESTIONS 

23. What was Captain Smollett’s opinion of the crew 
and of the cruise? What complaints did he make? What 
requests? Why? 

24. Who had selected the crew and under what captain 
had they formerly served? 

2,5. What plans of Silver did Jim overhear in the apple 
barrel? 

26. From this conversation what do you learn of Sil- 
ver’s past life? 

27. What course of action did Captain Smollett pro- 
pose to the owners of the Hispaniola"! Do you think he 
showed good judgment here? Give reasons for your 
answer. 

28. What was the situation which made Captain Smol- 
lett think it best to allow the crew an afternoon ashore? 

29. Explain the results of Jim’s going ashore. 

30. What was the object of Silver’s interview with 
Tom? What characteristics does he reveal in this scene? 
Do you think more or less of him? Why? 

31. Relate the story of Ben Gunn from the facts given 
concerning him in Part III. How did the fact of his hav- 
ing lived alone manifest itself in his appearance, manner, 
and conversation? 

32. Do you think it was wise for the Squire’s party to 
abandon the Hispaniola? Give reason for your answer. 

33. Describe the stockade and explain what advantage 
the Squire’s party gained in moving to the blockhouse. 

34. Relate an exciting incident that occurred during 
the jolly-boat’s last trip. 

35. What terms did Silver try to make with Captain 
Smollett and what was the result of his embassy? 

36. What plans for defense did the party in the stock- 
ade decide upon? 

37. Contrast the pirates and the Squire’s party in re- 
spect to numbers, provisions, arms, position, and chances 
in general. 

38. Give an account of the attack on the stockade, in- 
cluding a statement in regard to which pai-ty was the 
victor, and the change in numbers on each side. 

39. Criticize Jim’s leaving the stockade. 

40. Relate Jim’s experiences in setting the Hispaniola 
adrift and in boarding her. What characteristics did he 
display in this instance and what were his motives? 

41. Give an account of Jim’s encounter -with Israel 
Hands. 

42. Explain how Jim fell into the hands of the pirates. 

43. From his conversation with Silver what did Jim 
learn concerning his friends? 


SUGGESTED COMPOSITION SUBJECTS 


229 


44. Why did Dr. Livesey give the pirates possession of 
the stockade? 

45. What was the cause of the quarrel among the 
pirates? 

46. How did Silver reveal his character in his answer 
to the charges of the pirate crew and in the way in which 
he changed their attitude? 

47. What bargain was made between Jim and Silver? 
What was Silver’s object in this? 

48. Mention the instances in which Jim’s services 
helped his party. 

49. Explain how the pirates knew where to look for 
the buried treasure. 

50. What supernatural element is introduced in the 
story? 

51. Who had previously secured the treasure and what 
disposition had b“en made of it? 

52. Give an account of the return voyage. 

53. Mention the fate of the following: Silver; the 
other pirates; Ben Gunn. Do you think each received 
just treatment? Discuss in some detail. 


SUGGESTED COMPOSITION SUBJECTS 

1. A sketch of my favorite character in Treasure 
Island. (Mention incidents in the story which help to re- 
veal his character.) 

2. Description of the scene in Treasure Island that I 
can see most vividly. 

3. An account of what to me was the most interesting 
incident in Treasure Island. 

4. A synopsis of the story of Treasure Island. 

5. How the pirates’ plans were defeated by Ben Gunn. 

6. An account of the buccaneers during the 16th cen- 
tury. (See any good encyclopedia for this information.) 

7. Ben Gunn’s diary. (An imaginary account.) 

8. Further adventures of Jim Hawkins. 

9. The hero of Treasure Island. (Give reasons why 
you think the character chosen is the hero, mentioning 
incidents in the story which help to support your choice.) 

10 An imaginary account of John Silver’s life after he 
disappeared from the Hispaniola. 

11. Dramatization of any scene. (Include dialogue or 
group conversations.) 

12, An original Treasure Story. 


CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF STEVENSON’S 
WORKS 

The following is a chronological list of Robert Louis 
Stevenson’s most important works. The date given in 
each case is that in which the writing was first published 
in book form. An asterisk [*] preceding a title denotes 
that the book was written in collaboration with his step- 
son, Mr. Lloyd Osbourne. 

An Inland Voyage 1878, 

Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes 1879 

The Amateur Emigrant 18 

Virginibus Puerisque 1881 

Familiar Studies of Men and Books 1882 

New Arabian Nights 1882 

The Silverado Squatters 1883 

Treasure Island 1883 

Prince Otto 1885 

A Child’s Garden of Verses 1885 

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1886 

Kidnapped 1886 

Underwoods 1887 

The Merry Men and Other Tales 1887 

Memories and Portraits 1887 

The Black Arrow 1888 

The Master of Ballantrae 1889 

*The Wrong Box 1889 

Ballads 1891 

A Footnote to History 1892 

Across the Plains, with other Memories and Essays. .1892 

*The Wrecker 1892 

David Balfour 1893 

Island Nights’ Entertainments 1893 

*The Ebb Tide 1894 

The South Seas 1896 

Weir of Hermiston (unfinished) 1896 

St. Ives (completed by A. T. Quiller-Couch) 1897 

Letters (edited by Sidney Colvin) 1911 



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